Prime Minister, Cabinet and Executive Flashcards

Question

PMs private office

Answer 1

PM never alone, eg phone conversations records of everything kept civil servants do three years then return to a department

Answer 2

liaise between the party in parliament and the party in the country and the trade unions. In total Major = 22 people working directly for him, Blair = 40

Answer 3

over 2000 civil servants ensure the business of cabinet and cabinet committees run smoothly July 1998 Sir Richard Wilson (incoming cabinet secretary) introduced number of reforms so cabinet office now much closer to 'Prime Ministers Department'

Answer 4

public opinion ruling party parliament cabinet

Answer 5

PMs do not have to listen to public opinion, eg Thatcher's satisfaction rating never reached 50%, 1980s a low as 29% But makes the party uneasy if leader is unpopular especially as elections come close but in general leaders are more concerned with their standing within the party, parliament and cabinet?

Answer 6

used to be labour more constrained to party than conservatives this reversed 1980s and 1990s party generally supports PM as long as PM generates electoral success eg Thatchers downfall brought on by Geoffrey Howe's damming resignation speech "It is rather like sending your opening batsmen to the crease, only for them to find, as the first balls are being bowled, that their bats have been broken before the game by the team captain' PMs should listen to the party membership (corbyn at PMQTs) but can defy

Answer 7

Backbench rebellions both blair and brown defeated by parliament over time suspects can be detained without charge But large majorities also obstructions from the lords (working tax credits) Major's dealings with EU dictated by the attitude of a group of dissident MPs who threatened to bring down his government

Answer 8

power declined over last 40 years Even thatcher had to bow to cabinet in the early days and they spelled her downfall. she bowed over pressure to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in October 1990 in reality PMs don't bring proposals to cabinet without ensuring it would be endorsed with ministers constraints by cabinet tend to be informal Tony Blair = sofa government , 20 minuet rubber stamping cabinet committees Under brown they became longer coalition revived use of the cabinet but the Quad - Cameron, Osborne, clegg, alexander due to very small majority Cameron is going to have to listen to his cabinet

Answer 9

elastic premiership flexible premiership british presidency cyclic premiership

Answer 10

George Jones an individual may stretch powers well beyond normal scope but once power had been stretched too its limits the forces to reduce it become stronger. If a PM pushes it too far, he or she will be reined back by the inbuilt constraints in the political system futile to believe the PM can make permanent extensions to its authority eg; thatcher pushed power too far, war then brought down by her own ministers

Answer 11

Peter Hennessy PM power bound to grow, each new incumbent adds something new so bound to expand over time like a house adding new extensions but there is a limiting factor that now the job has simply become too much for one person to handle eg; thatcher was a workaholic notorious for on having 2 hours sleep a night

Answer 12

PM has become presidential but not in an American way (Michael Foley) Kavanagh states PM is not becoming presidential because president is actually relatively weak Foley instead states PM is playing a new role where they stand out from the rest of government and able to distance himself but still has to face the constraints of cabinet government

Answer 13

Kavanagh PM's tend to have a style different from that of their predecessor eg; meek Alec Douglas-Home followed by powerful Harold 'supermac' macmillan Thatcher followed by Major blair followed by brown

Answer 14

``` making government directing government policy managing the cabinet system organising government controlling parliament providing national leadership ```

Answer 15

``` formal policy approval policy coordination resolve disputes forum for debates party management symbol of collective government ```

Answer 16

``` ministers -normally elected -party members -temporary -public figures -run departments -make policy -responsible to parliament civil servants -appointed officials -politically neutral -permanent -anonymous -work in departments -advise on policy -responsible to ministers ```

Answer 17

cabinet government prime-ministerial government presidentialism core executive model

Answer 18

``` growth of spatial leadership (leaders giving themselves space from their party tendency towards populist outreach personalised election campaigns personal mandates wider use of special advisors strengthened cabinet office ```

Answer 19

Smith 1999 neither PM nor cabinet are independent actors each of them exercise influence through a network of relationships formal and informal

Answer 20

large majority enfeebled opposition (disunited and badly led) November 2005 - DC = opposition grew In full control of his party - but was defeated in the commons November 2005 over an amendment to the terrorism bill allowing to be held without trial for 90 days management of media = good presidential style

Answer 21

blair smaller majority (60) economic crisis (had been running the economy for 10 years) government finances in poor state = little room for manoeuvre never as good with the media

Answer 22

collective term for all those executive bodies with which the PM consults - PM and his office - deputy PM - cabinet - junior ministers - civil servants

Answer 23

``` sets government agenda registers decisions made in cabinet committees discussion and decision making disputes settled reports on recent developments rubber stamp ```

Answer 24

central policy-making body primus inter pares principle cabinet, not PM government (in theory) drawn from members of the party comes from commons with the occasional lord bound by collective ministerial responsibility

Answer 25

custom and convention that cabinet ministers are bound to support the decisions they have made as a collective body expected to publicly support and if not they must resign from the cabinet

Answer 26

custom and convention that cabinet ministers are responsible for all that goes on in their department traditionally if something goes wrong in their department they were expected to resign even if they were not personally to blame in the last 20 years however ministers tend to remain..

Answer 27

between 1979 and 2010 has decreased in importance thatcher and blair sidelined the cabinet short meetings sofa government just a rubber stamping body? but cabinet is only the tip of the iceberg with around 30 cabinet committees which are much more efficient and leave ministers much better informed

Answer 28

increased hugely coalition agreement 2010 = broad contact Cameron now unable to force decisions through like his predecessors, had to collaborate with the lib dems but still the quad who made most decisions before they reached the cabinet both parties saw cabinet as important to them (tories = maintain support from lib dems, lib dems as they were now in the focal point of power) lib dems had roughly 5 ministers junior posts = opposite to main minister ideological differences had to be worked out to practical compromises but were still some backbench rebellions (tory refusal to support lords reform 2012)

Answer 29

2003 Iraq war - robin cook and clare short, leader of the house and development of overseas ministers, cook resigned, short broke collective ministerial responsibility by calling blair 'reckless' but didn't resign, she then resigned two months later? 2014 Norman Baker - minister of state at the home office, series of clashes with Teresa may, baker resigned saying too hard to work with her.

Answer 30

2006 Ruth Kelly, education secretary, teachers allowed to work in schools despite being sex offenders, ordered review of policy but did not resign 2014 Mark Harper, immigration minister, employed a cleaner who did not have permission to live and work in the UK, resigned