Prime Minister and the Executive - Topic 3.2

Question 1

In the case of individual ministerial responsibilty, how can a minister be kept accountable by Parliament?

What rules are there and how does Parliament as a body keep account?

Answer 1

Ministers are expected to answer to Parliament and provide information, however, this doesn’t mean they’re held accountable for their department’s actions; that depends on the nature and scale of the action.

The Ministerial Code of Conduct was established in 1997 to keep ministers accountable and professional.

Parliament holds ministers accountable through:

• Oral Questions - Submitted by Lords or MPs and are answered in the cambers
• Written Questions - Submitted by Lords or MPs, ministers would respond in writing without the opportunity to follow up
• Urgent Questions, Emergency Debates, Opposition Days and Backbench Debates - Usually allow for MPs to debate the issue. Urgent questions and Private notice questions summon a minister to respond in chamber
• Select Committees - Ministers appear before a committe and respond to questions
• Correspondence - MPs and Lords, including committees, will write to ministers raising issues, which can then be published to increase pressure

Question 2

What are the consequences for ministers if they are found to be at fault?

Answer 2

They could be called into the chamber to apologise for their actions and can use pressure from committees, questions or debates and scrutinise them to force them to resign. Parliament can pass a vote of confidence on a minister, however this doesn’t have the usual formal effects like it would with the government or PM. Ministerial resignation often depends on the size and severity of the problem at hand, but MPs are expected more often to now resign from their positions.

Question 3

What are some examples of MPs being at fault in the past?

Answer 3

Adminstrative Failure:

• 1954 Crichel Down Affair - Thomas Dugdale resigned as minister of agriculture when his department failed to return land to its rightful owners when it was bought before WWII to be used as a bombing range. Although his civil servants were at fault, he resigned because he accepted ministerial responsibility

Policy Failure:

• 1982 Carrington resignation - Resigned from Thatcher’s government because it was seen that the Foreign Office should’ve been more aware of Argentina’s intentions to take the Falklands. He resigned in the immediate aftermath of the war

Scandal:

• 2021 Hancock resignation - Matt Hancock, secretary of state for health, resigned after it was found that he was kissing an aide of his and breaking his own Covid lockdown rules. The public outcry was so huge that he resigned shortly after the photos being issues in ‘The Sun’ newspaper

Question 4

What is the importance of collective ministerial responsibility?

Answer 4

Members of the government must support agreed policies even if in private they have been highly critical of it. Maintaining the unity of the government is important as it represents strength, therefore a fundamental part of the government to survive. The PM’s authority could be greatly undermined if collective responsibility wasn’t entrenched. If a minister doesn’t agree to the government’s decision, they must resign, to maintain collective responsibility and return as a backbencher.

Question 5

What are some examples of when collective responsibility hasn’t been maintained in recent years?

Answer 5

Ministerial Resignations:

• 2022 Sajid Javid & Rishi Sunak resignations - Allegations of Chief Whip Chris Pincher sexually assaulting two men had arised. When Javid and Sunak had found out that Boris Johnson (PM) had known this and kept this a secret, they resigned within minutes of each other. Sunak resigned mainly over economic policy disagreements between the two, while Javid resigned because of the PM’s lack of integrity and failure to instil “strong values.” Johnson resigned two days later

Broken Rules:

• 2016 Johnson as foreign secretary - Theresa May had favoured a customs partnership with the EU, Johnson didn’t publicly agree with May and he stated to the ‘Daily Mail’ that the plan was “totally untried and would make it very, very difficult to do free trade deals.” May didn’t sack him as she didn’t want ‘a cabinet of yes men’

Normal Service Returning ASAP:

• On rare occasions, the government realises that it is impossible to achieve collective ministerial responsibility. In these circumstances, the convention is suspended and ministers are allowed to disagree with the PM and each other; UK referendums on continued membership of the EEC (1975) and the EU (2016)