P2 T3: The Prime Minister and the Executive Flashcards
3.1 Define the Executive
Branch of govt. that is responsible for the implementation of laws and policies made by Parliament
3.1 Define Prime Minister
Head of the executive and leader of the largest party
3.1 Define Bureaucracy
Administrative machinery of govt., means ‘rule by officials’
3.1 Describe the structure of the executive
Prime Minister -> Cabinet (Head of departments) -> Government ministers -> Civil servants
3.1 How has the role of the PM been shaped? Why has this happened?
The role of the PM has been shaped by practical circumstances rather than the allocation of formal responsibilities because of the UK’s uncodified constitution
3.1 What are the key aspects of the role of PM?
- Forming a govt. - power to ‘hire & fire’
- Directing govt. policy - its overall direction
- Managing the cabinet system - chairs cabinet meetings, decides when and how long
- Organising govt. - set up, reorganise, abolish departments
- Controlling parliament
- Providing national leadership - important in times of crisis/war
3.1 Define patronage
Power to approve & dismiss members of the govt.
3.1 Define secondary legislation
Powers given to the executive by Parliament to make changes to the law within specific rules
3.1 Define cabinet
Group of leading ministers which is empowered to make official govt. policy
3.1 Define inner cabinet
Loose, informal group of policy advisers consulted by the PM outside of the formal cabinet, including senior ministers, officials, and special advisers3.
3.1 Define junior ministers
Parliamentary Under Secretaries of State of which there will be one in a department and three or four in a larger department
3.1 What are special advisers?
- Also known as Spads
- Stay in a govt. department as long as the minister they serve does
- Give party political advice & support to their minister in a way that would be inappropriate for civil servants to do
- They are policy experts & media advisers (media ads. aka ‘spin doctors’)
- e.g. Alistair Campbell, Dominic Cummings
3.1 What are the factors to take into account when appointing ministers?
- Close allies w/ PM, e.g. DC & George Osborne, Blair & Brown
- ‘Big Beasts’ - senior party figures, e.g. May included Philip Hammond & BJ in her cabinet
- Ability - Sunak replaced Sajid Javid as chancellor
- Balance ‘wings’ - Coalition had members from Cons. & LD
- Include rivals - ‘silence’ them w/ collective responsibility
- Socially balanced - DC promoted 2 women in 2011 to try and increase vote share w/ women
3.1 Name five prominent members of the cabinet
- PM - Keir Starmer
- Deputy PM, SoS for housing, communities, & local govt. - Angela Rayner
- Chancellor of the Exchequer - Rachel Reeves
- Foreign Secretary - David Lammy
- Home Secretary - Yvette Cooper
3.1 Who were the ‘big beasts’ of:
- Boris Johnson
- Liz Truss
- Rishi Sunak
- BJ: Sunak, Hunt
- Truss: Sunak, Mordant
- Rishi: Steve Baker, Cleverly
3.1 How did Theresa May assemble her first cabinet in 2016?
She accounted for ‘Big Beasts’ like Philip Hammond, Boris, David Davis, and Jeremy Hunt to ensure collective responsibility and to stop them challenging her from outside the cabinet
3.1 What is the theory of cabinet govt. as an answer to the question: ‘Who has power in the Executive?’?
Cabinet govt.:
- Emphasises power is collective
- All ministers equal
- Ministers expected to support cabinet policy or resign
- Disagreement only in cabinet room
- No PM can survive w/o cabinet support
- e.g. Thatcher ‘79-‘81 as cabinet had power over her due to weakness
3.1 What is the theory of Prime Ministerial Govt. as an answer to the question: ‘Who has power in the Executive?’
PM Govt.:
- Post war epoch has seen final transformation of Cabinet to PM Govt.
- PM dominates executive & parliament
- Cabinet is a source of advice & support for PM
3.1 What is the theory of Presidentialism as an answer to the question: ‘Who has power in the Executive?’
Presidentialism:
- UK PMs are increasingly resembling presidents, e.g. Harold Wilson, Thatcher, Blair
- Overlaps w/ PM govt. theory - PM has power over the cabinet
3.1 What is the evidence for growing presidentialism in the UK?
- Growth of ‘spatial leadership’ - distancing themselves from party, developing an ideology, e.g. ‘Thatcherism, Blairism’
- Populist outreach - speaking to the nation
- Personalised election campaigns - mass media portrays campaigns as battles between PM & LotO
- Increased use of special advisers rather than cabinet, ministers, or civil service
3.1 Define Cabinet Office
Supports the PM and ensures effective running of govt. - various units take lead in certain critical policy areas & coordinate the delivery of govt. policy
3.1 Define sofa government
Informal decision-making style within govt, e.g. sitting on a sofa and discussing - used to describe Blair’s govt.
3.1 Define presidentialism
Tendency for political leaders to increasingly act like executive presidents through the rise of personalised leadership
3.1 KTD: How important is the cabinet? Give the arguments FOR
FOR:
- Cabinet still gives authority to policy - must be brought forward & approved
- Cabinet still makes key decisions, e.g. Cabinet members decided to hold a snap election in 2017
- Cabinet ministers are powerful in their own right - ‘Big Beasts’ whose sacking can erode PM’s authority, e.g. Brown under Blair
- PMs only as powerful as their cabinet allows - can be overruled/removed, e.g. Thatcher, Blair, May
- PMs careful about reshuffling - lead to disharmony, e.g. May - Hunt refused to accept offer to move from Health
- Involved with management of emergencies, COBRA, e.g. 7/7 attacks
