PM and Cabinet Flashcards
What power over cabinet belongs exclusively to the PM?
the power to appoint, reshuffle and dismiss ministers
What has been the exception to the PM’s exclusive power over cabinet?
David Cameron had to lose 5 seats of cabinet during coalition
this meant that there was a formal constraint on the PM’s power of appointment
What are the factor’s governing the PM’s selection of ministers?
- individuals with ability and experience
- individuals that can be trusted to establish the PM’s authority and have their back
- rewarding loyalty
- including key allies and conciliating potential rivals
- maintaining a balance between factions
- meeting expectations of diversity
What is the most important ability a PM looks for when appointing a minister?
administrative and communicative abilities tend to be more important than detailed knowledge of a particular policy area
Give an example of an PM appointing a minister based on ability and experience
- Sunak had to appoint Hunt as Chancellor due to his economic expertise
- Michael Gove also has lots of experience since 2010
Give an example of a minister that was able to establish the PM’s authority
Nadine Dorries - culture secretary and has been a loyal ally to Johnson
- said he’s “one of the world’s greatest leaders” despite him being booted out of office after a rebellion by his own MPs
- she claims Tories should bring him back “or die”
How did May ensure she appointed a balanced cabinet?
- May had to balance the cabinet with remain/leave supporters to ensure unity - appointed Amber Rudd (remain), appointed Johnson and Davies (leave)
How did Thatcher ensure she appointed a balanced cabinet?
she appointed “dries” which were New Right Tories that agreed with her policies
she also appointed “wets” who were more suspicious of her policies and favoured compromising with Labour
What can we say about Thatcher’s power of patronage?
she took advantage of her power of patronage to shape the ideological direction of the cabinet
Give an example of a PM that did not appoint a balanced cabinet.
Liz Truss as she appointed all her allies and friends
Give an example of a PM that skilfully appointed a minister to cabinet
May appointing Boris in order to keep him close as a competitor
What is the effect of appointing close allies to cabinet?
- PMs are faced with very few limits to their power
- PM is practically untouchable when there are no serious rivals
- real sense of incumbency
Give examples of closely allied PMs and Ministers
Tony Blair and Gordon Brown
David Cameron and George Osborne
Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries
Give an example of Blair and Brown’s close alliance
before the cabinet had even met Blair and Brown had already decided to give interest raising powers to the bank of england
Give an example of a minister that was rewarded for his loyalty by Johnson
Steve Barclay - supporter of Boris, Brexiteer, appointed to cabinet by Boris, was promoted out of cabinet to chief of staff at 10 Downing ST
Give an example of a PM who appointed a minister in order to maintain a balance between different factions within the governing party
Sunak had to appoint Braverman to appease the right wing of the party, she brought ERG votes to Sunak
Which PM faced adverse comments for his lack of diversity in cabinet?
John Major in 1990, his first cabinet included no women but he later corrected
Who was the first female minister to hold one of the three most senior posts?
Margaret Becket made foreign secretary by Blair in 2006
Who is a close ally to Sunak?
Dominic Raab
How can we conclude that Boris is somewhat of a transactional leader?
he was heavy on party rules: punishment will be due for anyone who goes against the leader e.g. Gove sacked for suggesting Boris resign
What is cabinet formally responsible for?
policy making
How has the responsibility of cabinet changed in recent times?
- now more usual for policy decisions to be taken elsewhere
- claims that the executive is now dominated by the PM to an undue degree
Explain the idea of a presidential government
- the idea that leadership is becoming much more personalised
- PMs are becoming more distant from and much less dependent on traditional institutions such as the Cabinet
What are the factors that affect the relationship between the PM and Cabinet
- PM’s management skills
- PM’s ability to set agenda
- use of Cabinet committees and informal groups to take decisions
- development of PM’s office and Cabinet Office
- impact of wider political and economic situations
How did Major and Cameron use cabinet?
as an important sounding board for ideas and policy initiatives
How did Blair and Thatcher use cabinet?
simply used it to legitimise decisions made elsewhere
Give an example of a PM that failed to consult cabinet in policy matters
- 2003 Iraq War Blair took the case straight to the people not the cabinet
- 2018 Syria Air Strikes May did not consult the cabinet
Explain the importance of the management skills of the PM over Cabinet
- a skilled prime minister will exploit the elastic nature of the office to assert control over the cabinet
- the right to appoint and dismiss ministers can be used to reshape the party and to remove poor performers and bring in new blood and to marginalise opponents
How can we argue cabinet may have more power over the PM?
- a PM can be brought down by cabinet
- cabinet can and will exert its authority limiting the PMs life and agenda
- if the cabinet unites against a PM then they are doomed
Why did Thatcher resign?
- after losing support of her cabinet
- when ‘poll tax’ was rejected by public
How was May at odds with cabinet? What does this show about the relationship between the PM and cabinet?
she struggled to get parliamentary approval for Brexit agreement
if PM does not have a large majority or full support then power is limited
What was the major factor of Johnson’s resignation?
- large factor is his lies e.g. partygate
- got ministers to go out on the airwaves and publicly put out the message he didn’t know anything about Chris Pincher when he actually did
Give an example of Johnson losing the support of his cabinet
- covid passes bill
- 99 Tory rebels
- although the bill still passed, this heavily undermines his power and image
Give an example of a PM whose ability to set agenda failed
May - lost her parliamentary majority due to inability to deliver Brexit
