The PM and the Cabinet Flashcards
Who forms the government executive?
Ministers appointed by the PM
What is the PM’s main duties? (8 of them)
1) appointing ministers
2) Chairing meetings of cabinet
3) Meeting queen every week
4) Declaring war (Monarch can also do this, usually PM)
5) Appointing senior judges, Church of England Clergy, peerages and other honours.
6) Recommending the dissolution of Parliament for a general election
7) Attending PM’s question time each week to answer Qs from MPs
8) writing Queens speech, outlining bills to be introduced in parliament
How many ministers are appointed and how many and who make it into the cabinet?
1) 100 ministers are appointed
2) 20 of most senior are members of the PM’s inner circle
What are ministers that hear departments known as?
Secretaries of State
What doctrines are ministers expected to adhere by? (2 of them)
1) Collective responsibility - this means they have to publicly support PM policy, even if they privately disagree with it (ex - Robin Cook resigned from cabinet as he didn’t agree with Iraq War 2003)
2) Individual ministerial responsibility - he/she takes responsibility for actions his/her department make, should resign if serious error made (Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington resigned from cabinet over invasion of Falkland Islands in 1982)
What are civil servants?
Permanent employees of the government who are expected to be politically neutral
What is a civil servants job?
When politicians decide a policy, civil servants then implement that policy, the rule is advisers advise and ministers decide.
What is a permanent secretary?
Each department is headed by a civil servant known as a permanent secretary
What happens to civil servants at election time?
Nothing changes. They are expected to work with whatever politicians the voters see fit to elect
They are politically neutral remember
