Ministerial Responsibility

Question 1

what is the nature of ministerial responsibility?

Answer 1

ministerial responsibility is a convention, not a fixed law that can be enforced

there are no rules governing the circumstances in which ministers must take responsibility by resigning

political circumstances impact how the convention is used in practice

Question 2

individual ministerial responsibility: what is individual ministerial responsibility?

Answer 2

individual ministerial responsibility is the principle by which ministers are responsible for their personal conduct and for their departments, including the running of their departments and its policies

Question 3

individual ministerial responsibility: what is the official definition?

Answer 3

The official definition of individual ministerial responsibility is set out in the Ministerial Code issued at the start of a new government by the Prime Minister

The latest version states that “ministers have a duty to Parliament to account, and be held to account, for the policies, decisions and actions of their departments and agencies”

Question 4

individual ministerial responsibility: what are ministers obliged to do and what are they responsible for?

Answer 4

ministers are obliged to give accurate information to Parliament, if they knowingly mislead Parliament then they are expected to resign

they are responsible for deciding how to conduct themselves but “only remain in office for so long as they retain the confidence of the Prime Minister”

The prime minister is the “ultimate judge of the standards of behaviour expected of a minister and the appropriate consequences of a breach of those standards”

Question 5

individual ministerial responsibility: when are ministers not expected to resign?

Answer 5

A minister is not expected to resign over a minor mistake

The business of government is so large and complex which means that ministers cannot possibly know everything that goes on within their department

Question 6

individual ministerial responsibility: what does it depend on?

Answer 6

it works out differently in different situations, it is ultimately unpredictable

Question 7

individual ministerial responsibility: case study illustrating the flexibility of individual responsibility

Answer 7

Charles Clarke was Home Secretary in Blair’s government and was challenged by opposition MPs in 2006 over the inability of the Home Office to account for the movements of over 1000 foreign prisoners after they had served their sentences in the UK

they had been freed without being considered for deportation and Clarke had admitted that his department had taken their “eye off the ball” but he also told the BBC that “I certainly don’t think I have a duty to the public to go — I have a duty to sort this out”

it was reported that he privately offered to resign but the Prime Minister initially backed him to continue in office, although 10 days later Blair reshuffled cabinet and sacked Clarke following poor results for Labour in local elections

this demonstrates that ministerial responsibility depends on the circumstances at the time

Question 8

individual ministerial responsibility: what does the fate of an individual minister depend on?

Answer 8

The fate of an individual minister depends on how serious the issue is perceived to be, the level of criticism in parliament and the media when a mistake is made as well as the attitude of the Prime Minister of the day

Question 9

individual ministerial responsibility: what was Alistair Campbell’s golden rule?

Answer 9

Alistair Campbell, Blair’s press secretary, apparently had a ‘golden rule’ that a minister would have to leave if they were at the centre of a media storm for longer than a given length of time

Question 10

individual ministerial responsibility: what has happened since the 1980s to erode individual ministerial responsibility?

Answer 10

since the late 1980s, many government functions have been delegated to executive agencies under a director-general rather than a minister

this has led to doubt about who is accountable and has eroded individual ministerial responsibility

The minister is responsible for overall policy while the head of the agency exercises operational responsibility, but it is often hard to determine who should be accountable

for example, in 1995, the Home Secretary controversially fired by director-general of the Prisons Service following criticism of the escape of prisoners from Parkhurst jail

Question 11

individual ministerial responsibility: what have the blurring lines of accountability led to?

Answer 11

blurring lines of accountability mean that civil servants have been held responsible for departmental errors rather than ministers

when traditionally, they were anonymous, taking neither credit nor blame for the actions of the government but this has been eroded

in 2012, the Transport Secretary admitted that mistakes had been made in the awarding of a franchise to companies to run trains on the West Coast Main Line

three civil servants were suspended as a result, one of whom launched a successful legal action to get them reinstated

Question 12

individual ministerial responsibility: what did constitutional expert Professor Vernon Bogdanor make the case for?

Answer 12

constitutional expert Professor Vernon Bogdanor made the case for the traditional relationship between ministers and civil servants

he argued that ministers were responsible for ensuring that officials had the necessary skills to carry out the work of the department and that ministers should be in a position to assure parliament that all is in order

therefore, ministers should be held responsible for mistakes made within their departments rather than civil servants

Question 13

individual ministerial responsibility: what is the most common cause of resignations?

Answer 13

personal misconduct is a more common cause of resignations than failures of policy or administration

sometimes, the impression that a minister’s behaviour has fallen short of expected standards has been enough for their departure from office

for example, Peter Mandelson was obliged to resign twice from Blair’s first government due to a perception of wrongdoing

in one instance, he was accused of using his influence to fast track a passport application by an Indian businessman but was later exonerated by an independent inquiry

in another case, it was revealed he was buying a house with the help of a loan supplied by a Cabinet colleague, whose business affairs were being investigated by Mandelson’s department

in both cases, he had to resign simply to clear the air, regardless of the facts or whether he actually did anything wrong

Question 14

individual ministerial responsibility: summary of what this convention means

Answer 14

individual ministerial responsibility is the convention that a minister should resign if their department makes a serious political or personal error

ministers are individually responsible for the work of their departments and answerable to Parliament for their department’s activities

they are expected to accept responsibility for any failure that happens in their department

Question 16

collective ministerial responsibility: case study

Answer 16

Iain Duncan Smith resigned in 2016 as Work and Pensions Secretary under Cameron’s government, stating that he could not support or accept cuts to disability benefits

he objected to the fact that Chancellor George Osborne had made other changes in his budget to benefit high earners — in his opinion, Osbourne was too inclined to make cuts for narrow political reasons rather than in the national economic interest

Duncan Smith also disliked the Treasury’s demand that the Department of Work and Pensions should take public responsibility for the cuts that he did not himself support

personality differences may have also played a part — it was widely believed that Osborne considered Duncan Smith to be too intellectually limited to take responsibility for such complex government policies

Duncan Smith’s desire to see Britain leave the EU also brought him into conflict with Cameron and Osborne and may have played a part in the clash

Question 17

collective ministerial responsibility: what is collective ministerial responsibility?

Answer 17

collective ministerial responsibility is a convention that binds Cabinet ministers together by obliging them to support government policy and decisions in public or resign

cabinet must come to a collective position to give the appearance of unity at the top of the government — they are responsible as a group to Parliament and the people

essentially, ministers must support cabinet decisions or leave the executive

although, it is not a fixed law that can be enforced

Question 18

collective ministerial responsibility: what are ministers free to do?

Answer 18

ministers are free to argue their case in private

but once a decision in cabinet is reached, it is binding on them all and they must support it publicly

cabinet discussions should also be confidential

Question 19

collective ministerial responsibility: what happens if a government is defeated in the House of Commons?

Answer 19

if defeated in a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons, the government as a whole resigns

Question 20

collective ministerial responsibility: what have been some notable examples of individual resignations?

Answer 20

individual resignations are generally rare but there have been significant examples…

• 1986 — Michael Heseltine resigns as Defence Secretary
• 1989 — Nigel Lawson resigns as Chancellor of the Exchequer
• 1990 — Geoffrey Howe resigns as deputy prime minister
• 2003 — Robin Cook, leader of the House of Commons, resigned due to his opposition to the Blair government’s decision to go to war with Iraq, he stated that he could not “accept collective responsibility for the decision to commit Britain to military action in Iraq without international agreement or domestic support”
• 2018 — Dominic Raab became the first secretary of state to resign after the draft deal was reached with Brussels, saying he could not in “good conscience” support it (resigned as Brexit secretary)
• 2018 — Boris Johnson resigned as Foreign Secretary following Theresa May’s Chequers proposal
• 2018 — David Davis also resigned as Brexit secretary

Question 21

collective ministerial responsibility: why are individual resignations rare?

Answer 21

individual resignations are generally rare as they can end political careers

it is more common for ministers to leak dissatisfaction to the media or disagree in private rather than take a public stand against cabinet

Question 23

collective ministerial responsibility: what may resignations be concerned with?

Answer 23

not all resignations are purely concerned with matters of principle, they also may involve clashes of personality or ambitions

for example, many argue that one of the reasons behind Iain Duncan Smith’s resignation was due to a clash of personalities between him and George Osborne as well as conflict created with both Cameron and Osborne over Brexit

Question 24

collective ministerial responsibility: in what ways are resignations damaging?

Answer 24

resignations damage leadership

for example, the resignations of Michael Heseltine, Nigel Lawson and Geoffrey Howe all damaged Margaret Thatcher‘s leadership and contributed to her fall from office

resignations give the impression that the Prime Minister does not have control over their cabinet

Question 25

collective ministerial responsibility: what have been one of the exceptions to collective responsibility?

Answer 25

The coalition government (2010-15) involved an exception to collective responsibility

collective responsibility was set aside and an ‘agree to differ’ situation was established on a number of policy areas, largely because compromise was needed to secure a coalition

for example, during the campaigning for the Brexit referendum, David Cameron allowed ministers to campaign on competing sides rather than take a collective decision

Harold Wilson also suspended collective responsibility in 1975 for the same reason, this was the most well-known suspension of the convention

this enabled David Cameron to manage dissent and avoid resignations — except in the case of Iain Duncan Smith who resigned from the cabinet in 2016 due to the government cuts to disability benefits

Question 26

collective ministerial responsibility: what was uncomfortable for Cameron in setting aside collective responsibility? what did he seek to do later?

Answer 26

having high-profile ministers such as Michael Gove challenge the government over policy was uncomfortable for Cameron and he was keen to reassert collective responsibility afterwards

The setting aside of collective responsibility meant that it became hard to manage the party and cabinet

David Cameron ended up resigning in 2016

Question 27

collective ministerial responsibility: what were the four main issues that Liberal Democrat ministers were allowed to disagree with the government on?

Answer 27

there were four main issues on which it was agreed that LibDem ministers would not be bound by collective responsibility…

• construction of new nuclear power stations
• tax allowances for married couples
• higher education funding
• Trident nuclear weapon system (LibDem ministers were allowed to propose an alternative to the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent)

these were the areas that they were most likely to disagree with the Conservatives on

they were allowed to abstain in votes on these areas and disagree with the government’s stance

Question 28

collective ministerial responsibility: how were decisions taken within the Cameron government?

Answer 28

the Quad; David Cameron (Prime Minister), George Osborne (Chancellor of the Exchequer), Nick Clegg (deputy prime minister) and Danny Alexander (financial secretary)

Decision-making moved from cabinet to the Quad under Cameron’s coalition government

the Quad enabled both parties in the coalition to possess an equal voice

although, Cameron returned more to Cabinet government as Cabinet committees seemed to matter much more

Question 29

collective ministerial responsibility: how many spots in cabinet were open to negotiation in the coalition government?

Answer 29

5 spots in cabinet were subject to negotiation and agreement between Cameron and Clegg

this restricted David Cameron‘s prerogative powers of ministerial appointment during the coalition

Question 30

exceptions to collective responsibility: what have there been occasions of?

Answer 30

there have been occasions when collective responsibility has been modified for political reasons

some notable examples of this include…
• 1975 EEC referendum
• 2010 coalition government
• 2016 Brexit referendum

Question 31

exceptions to collective responsibility: 2010 coalition government

Answer 31

A notable example of collective responsibility being modified was the need to find a compromise between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrat in order to form a coalition government in 2010

there were four issues on which it was agreed that Liberal Democrat ministers would not be bound by collective responsibility, these were areas where they were most likely to come into conflict with the Conservative ministers

liberal Democrats were allowed to abstain in votes on the construction of new nuclear power stations, tax allowances for married couples and higher education funding, and to propose an alternative to the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent

there were other instances where members of the two parties took opposing standpoints — an example was the 2011 referendum on the Westminster electoral system, in which David Cameron defended first past the post while Nick Clegg campaigned for the alternative vote

Question 32

exceptions to collective responsibility: since 1945, when has it been necessary to suspend collective responsibility?

Answer 32

since 1945 it has proved necessary to suspend collective responsibility on two occasions…

• 1975 EEC referendum
• 2016 Brexit referendum

both occasions (1975 and 2016) concerned collective responsibility being suspended during referendum campaigns on the issue of Britain’s membership of the European Union

Question 33

exceptions to collective responsibility: 1975

Answer 33

in 1975, collective responsibility was suspended during referendum campaigns on the issue of Britain’s membership of the EEC

Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson recognised that in order to prevent resignations by Eurosceptics he had to allow ministers to campaign on both sides of the argument

The understanding was that, having been allowed to argue their case in public, they would then unite behind and accept the people’s verdict

The only condition was that, as the official government position was to remain in Europe, opponents could not speak against membership from the despatch box in the House of Commons — Industry minister Eric Heffer was sacked for breaking this rule

Question 34

exceptions to collective responsibility: 2016

Answer 34

in 2016, David Cameron was faced with an equally divided Conservative party and reluctantly agreed to suspend collective responsibility on the EU issue

The 2016 referendum was more bitterly fought than the 1975 campaign

for example, 5 anti-EU Cabinet ministers were joined by the former London Mayor, Boris Johnson, in attacking the terms on which Cameron proposed to continue British membership of the EU

unlike Harold Wilson 4 decades earlier, Cameron took personal charge of the Remain campaign and when his side lost the vote in June 2016 he had no real alternative but to resign as prime minister

Question 35

examples of resignations: David Laws

Answer 35

David Laws resigned as Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 2010 because he claimed Parliamentary expenses to pay rent to his partner

Question 36

examples of resignations: Liam Fox

Answer 36

Liam Fox resigned as Defence Secretary in 2011 because he allowed a personal friend to accompany him as an advisor to official meetings

Question 37

examples of resignations: Chris Huhne

Answer 37

Chris Huhne resigned as Energy and Climate Change Secretary in 2012 because he was charged with perverting the course of justice over an earlier speeding prosecution

Question 38

examples of resignations: Andrew Mitchell

Answer 38

Andrew Mitchell resigned as Chief Whip in 2012 because he was accused of insulting policeman on duty in Downing Street

Question 39

examples of resignations: Maria Miller

Answer 39

Maria Miller resigned as Culture Secretary in 2014 because she claimed Parliamentary expenses related to her family home

Question 40

examples of resignations: Baroness Warsi

Answer 40

Baroness Warsi resigned as Minister of State at Foreign Office and Minister for Faith and Communities in 2014 because she disagreed with government policy on the Israel-Gaza conflict