PM And Cabinet Flashcards
Johnsons power as PM over cabinet examples
- since election filled cabinet with allies and string Brexit supporters, key to achieving most important promise of Brexit. ( he sacked 20 not stomp brexitiers after he came into office )
-Sajjid Javid as chancellor refused to accept replacement of advisers, he resigned and was replaced with sunak who was more ‘compliant’
Major reshuffle in 2021 - resonate power and control over direction of policy. Demoted Dominic Rabb as plans for housing angered Tory mps. Gavin Williamson was dismissed Over mistakes including exam fiasco 2020
Examples of Johnson’s lack of power as PM ( cabinet dominance )
Refused to fire priti Patel in 2020 over bullying allegations
And refused to fire Matt Hancock after affair during covid restrictions came to light
Refused to fire Dominic rabb over appealing response to Afghanistan conflict ( demoted him in reshuffle ) weakness of IMR as PM
Needed support throughout party gate ( changed ministerial code ) and seemed vulnerable as a PM
Cabinet domminance over truss
(Some dominance by purging all of sunak backers from her cabinet )
Pressurised by her cabinet into maintaining a rise in pension spending with inflation by Mordaunt and others.
Prominent cabinet members and 1022 bb committee essentially forced truss to accept hunt as chancellor after minibudget disaster
Then pressure to resign.
Cabinet domminance over sunak 2023/ 2024
Looked weak compared to cabinet when he refused to sack Zahawi over his tax improprieties in 2023 until “ serious breaches of ministerial code” and forced to sack him
Weak after invited braverman back into the cabinet after she redesigned as home secretary for break of MC
Badencoch was first minister to label comments by Hester against abbot racist in 2024 then no 10 followed suit - before that labelled as ‘wrong’
Patronage and why it shows PM power.
PM can ensure promotion and appointment of loyal supporters who share their ideology + rivals and critiques can be kept out of government
• The fact tat the PM controls their political Carreras means’s that backbenchers who who may want to form ministers one day remain loyal ( idea of loyalty to a PM restraining them - CMR? )
• Example - thatcher consolidated her position in 1983 by transforming her once dominated cabinet of the ‘wets’ ( ONC’s )- to one where key economic posts were in the hands of the dry’s ( her thaterites )
• Example - Cameron’s major reshuffle - July 2014 five ministers sacked and another 3 demoted or promoted.
• May filled three main positions linked to Brexit with brexiteers
• Johnson sacked javid when he refused to change his SpAds and replaced him with Sunak as chancellor
• Truss got rid of all Sunak supporters from her cabinet after she won the leadership race in 2022
Patronage and why it shows a lack of power
• PMs have to be conscious of party unity - major factions have to be represented - Sunak giving Stella braverman a place in the cabinet AGAIN after she resign due to the influence of the ERG. Other examples as well. May and her careful balance of leavers and remainders in a time of dispute about them. Party’s factions must be represented
• ensure those with the most talent are represented - as they will be the ones responsible for formulating policy for their departments
• Descriptive representation ( truss did in her cabinet )
• big beasts often inside cab - bind them collaboratively through CMR - better than any threat of crit
Ability to manage their cabinet - SHOWS POWER
chair cabinet meetings and manage the agenda + decide how long cabinet meetings are
• Decide number of cabinet committees and ministerial groups + appoint their members
• with CMR it finds those who would potentially want to critize the gov
• Example, 2010 coalition involved formal and informal meetings - whereby two parties had to be happy with policy
• Johnson, allegidaly made most of the decisions about COVID with quad of ministers - Rabb Hancock Sunak and Gove
Ability to manage cabinet - LACK OF POWER
cabinet will only support popular PMs
• Cabinet resignations can damage political support for PM, with Johnson in 2022 ( he then resigned himself due to the scale of political damage he faced )
• You have to discuss some issues with the cabinet - to avoid dissent within the cabinet and them breaking the convention of CMR
• Coalition government as an exception - held cabinet meetings regularly
Leadership of party - SHOWS POWER
PM has power as leader of the biggest party in the commons ( bigger majority would mean more suppport ) can rely on a payroll vote of around 120. It gives them power as it means they can control parliment + demand a disciplined majority
• Role of the whips
• Example Blair - sofa politics and he experienced lots of bb rebellion but not a single defete until 2005 ( he had big maj)
• Fortune of party linked much to the popularity of PM due to focus of the singular figure - discourage party divideeed and stimulate support for a PM - example Johnson able to pass EU withdrawal despite refusal for may - Johnson’s popularity after 2019 election
• PM and cabinet sit as MP’s - so they will get o vote in favour of their legislation
Leadership of party - SHOWS LACK OF POWER
PMs who are an electoral liability ( unpopular e.g lizz truss) are more damaging and party loyalty will fade quickly
examples - truss and her mini budget and Johnson and his handling of the pandemic ( candles partygate etc )
• PMs with small majorities often limited by their backbenchers so have to ensure party unity more so ( would have to rely more on the cabinet/ wouldn’t be able to do what they wanted because it could cause dissent )
• Example - may tried to please both leave / remain sides and failed at both ( so therefore wasn’t powerful )
• PMs can loose a vote of no confidence
• Lacking a mandate = more opposition in the lords ( not as powerful )
• Coalition govs - 2010 one faced heavy rebellion due to ideologically opposed ( so PM couldn’t be as powerful as it was difficult to control a heavily opposed party and would lad to much critique )
Institutional support - SHOWS POWER OF PM
PM office has been extended significantly ( under Blair ) civil servants, and spAds
• The cabinet office and its resources has meant that the PM can work independently to the rest of the cabinet
• Blair was the first PM to give senior SpAds control over civil servants
• Cameron and clegg had over 107 spAds supporting them ( so this is the increased use of spAds rarther than a cabinet office ) - some would critique as they are unelected.
Institutional support - LACK OF POWER OF PM
compared to other executives in different countries it is minor
• SpAds can be costly to a PMs populatiry and political credibility — alistar Campbell liability for Blair’s government and he resigned over a candle regarding searches for weapons in Iraq. Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill were mays joint chiefs - both resigned over reccomendation for a snap election which lead her to loose her majority in 2017. Cummings had unparalleled power as Johnsons top advisor during Brexit campaign. He broke lockdown restrictions and him and lee cain resigned - which caused more issues than solututions for Johnson’s on as it create negtive media coverage.
Factors affecting during premiership - personal style of leadership
transactional - trying to balance party factions against each other ( john major and May )
• transformational - Blair, thatcher - those driven by ideology and try to inspire. ( spatial leadership and stand alone ideologies than run the party )
• PMs who have big personalities and can speak public ally with ease ( which would typically avoid any unwanted media criticism ) are able to do better and therefore have more power due to more stability throughout if they aren’t receiving any criticism. blair and Cameron’s were effective speakers, truss had an awkward personality and was unable to deal with the media which made it very easy to criticise her.
During premiership - The cabinet
• thatcher and the wets ( ONCs) - therefore weren’t initially united but also were unable to challenge her because of it ( also purged the cabinet and replaced with drys later to deal with specific economic issues - the Thatcherite’s.
• Blair as a strong leader faced little to no cabinet opposition till the Iraq war in 2005 ( didn’t loose a single vote in the commons )
• Mays lack of control and divided cabinet after the 2017 snap election reduced her power
• Johnsons large majority in 2019 allowed him to command more deference from his party
During premiership - the party and factions
Thatcher lost her party support over Europe and controversial poll tax
• Blair’s initial polulatrity decreased after 2005 - left office lacking power
• May!!!! Spent 2017-2019 trying to appeal to the various party factions and was arguably one of the most unsuccessful PMs
• Johnson after covid faced rebellions as party became dissatisfied after covid + the scandles that
Truss arguably never had a united party behind her and when the budget crashed the economy in 2022 - they became even more vocally critical of her.
Sunak has been seen having to balance the wishes of the ERG with his agenda and has seen several rebellions while he was in office
