The PM And The Executive- The Powers Of PM

Question 1

The prime minister derives their authority and dominance of government from the following sources of power:

Answer 1

+ patronage
+ royal prerogative
+ parliamentary majority
+ party support
+ personal mandate

Question 2

Patronage and the appointments of ministers

Answer 2

+ Patronage forms part of the prime minister’s prerogative powers but is
often analysed separately since it is so frequently used.

+ Members of the cabinet therefore owe their promotion to the prime minister and are bound by collective ministerial responsibility.

+ Prime ministers also have a say in other public appointments, including
those of the most senior civil servants.

Question 3

Main component of patronage

Answer 3

The main component of this power is the ability to appoint and dismiss
cabinet and junior ministers (the co-called payroll vote).

Question 4

Due to patronage members of the cabinet therefore owe their promotion to ?

Answer 4

Members of the cabinet therefore owe their promotion to the prime minister and are bound by collective ministerial responsibility.

Question 5

Patronage

Answer 5

The power of appointment and dismissal. In relation to the prime minister, patronage over ministerial offices gives them great power because it promotes loyalty among those who are promoted or who hope to be promoted.

Question 6

Payroll vote

Answer 6

Senior ministers and junior ministers who, since they owe their promotion to the prime minister, can be relied upon to vote in favour of government legislation.

Question 7

The power of patronage allowed the PM the follow advantages:

Answer 7

+ It enables the prime minister to shape the ideological direction of the cabinet. Thatcher appointed ‘Dries’, New Right Tories who agreed with her policies.

+ It means the prime minister can reward those who are loyal to them. Boris Johnson promoted those who supported his leadership campaign (e.g. Rishi Sunak) and sacked those who questioned his Brexit policy (e.g. Julian Smith).

+ It gives the prime minister the opportunity to promote younger MPs with potential and to increase diversity. Theresa May promoted younger women to senior positions, such as Amber Rudd to home secretary.

Question 8

What factors do PMs have to take into account when selecting ministers ?

Answer 8

The prime minister often has to satisfy the various factions within their political party.

It is safer to have potential rivals in cabinet, bound under collective ministerial responsibility, than to have them ‘sniping’ from the backbenches.

The type of government also affects the leeway with patronage.

Ministers may refuse a job.

Question 9

Prime ministers have to take into account a range of factors when selecting ministers and therefore their powers of patronage are

Answer 9

Prime ministers have to take into account a range of factors when selecting ministers and therefore their powers of patronage are

=not absolute.

Question 10

Example of the following factor a PM needs to take into account when selecting ministers

The prime minister often has to satisfy the various factions within their political party.

Answer 10

Example
Thatcher initially was forced into appointing the Wets’, moderates who disagreed with her New Right agenda.

Question 11

Example of the following factor PM needs to take into account when selecting ministers

It is safer to have potential rivals in cabinet, bound under collective ministerial responsibility, than to have them ‘sniping’ from the backbenches.

Answer 11

Both Cameron and May felt it was safer to have Boris Johnson in their cabinets than as a backbench MP.

Question 12

Example of the following factor PM needs to take into account when selecting ministers

The type of government also affects the leeway with patronage.

Answer 12

In a coalition, the prime minister is forced to promote MPs from the junior coalition partner. Cameron agreed to appoint five Lib Dems to cabinet.

With a small majority and then a hung parliament, Theresa May had to promote prominent ‘Brexiteers’, including Johnson, Liam Fox and David Davis, to senior positions.

Question 13

Example of the following factor PM needs to take into account when selecting ministers

Ministers may refuse a job.

Answer 13

Theresa May’s attempts to reshuffle unfavourable ministers seriously backfired in January 2018 when Jeremy Hunt refused to move from his post as health secretary.

Question 14

When referring to the limits of patronage, you should…?

Answer 14

incorporate the need for prime ministers to reflect the ideological factions of their party.

For example, Blair had to consider those who favoured traditional socialism while Thatcher had to initially promote One Nation Conservatives.

Question 15

Royal prerogative

Answer 15

The unwritten powers that have passed from the monarch to the prime minister. These include powers of patronage, acting as commander-in-chief and negotiating foreign treaties.

Question 16

The royal prerogative concerns

And what has their use not required

Answer 16

those powers that have passed from the monarch to the prime minister.

Their use has not in the past required approval by Parliament and thus they have allowed the prime minister to act independently.

Question 17

What the royal prerogative allow the PM to do?

Answer 17

The prime minister is considered the de facto commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Theresa May authorised bombing of Syria in 2018 without a vote in the House of Commons.

The prime minister is effectively chief diplomat since they are able to sign treaties and enter into negotiation with other countries. After the 2016 referendum, successive prime ministers took the lead in negotiating a post-Brexit relationship with the EU.

The prime minister has huge influence in deciding the date of the next election, capitalising on favourable circumstances, as they can ask the monarch to dissolve Parliament. Thatcher called an election in 1983 to capitalise on her popularity after the Falklands War.

Question 18

Recent limits to the royal prerogative power of :

The prime minister is considered the de facto commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Theresa May authorised bombing of Syria in 2018 without a vote in the House of Commons.

Answer 18

It is now accepted that the prime minister should make major military commitments only ‘on the advice and with the sanction of Parliament’. A precedent was set, in the vote on the Iraq War, that Parliament, not the prime minister, has the final say on committing ground troops into military conflict.

Question 19

Recent limits to the royal prerogative power of :

The prime minister is effectively chief diplomat since they are able to sign treaties and enter into negotiation with other countries. After the 2016 referendum, successive prime ministers took the lead in negotiating a post-Brexit relationship with the EU.

Answer 19

Treaties that have been approved by Parliament can only be undone by Parliament, a fact confirmed by the UK Supreme Court’s decisions relating to Brexit.

Question 20

Recent limits to the royal prerogative power of :

The prime minister has huge influence in deciding the date of the next election, capitalising on favourable circumstances, as they can ask the monarch to dissolve Parliament. Thatcher called an election in 1983 to capitalise on her popularity after the Falklands War.

Answer 20

The Fixed-term Parliaments Act requires the prime minister to win a supermajority in Parliament for an election to be called early. While Boris Johnson was able eventually to hold an election in December 2019, the House of Commons initially blocked him from calling an election earlier on in that year.

Question 21

A prime minister, as leader of the largest party in the House of Commons, usually enjoys…?

Answer 21

a Commons majority.

Having a parliamentary majority will increase the likelihood that the government’s legislative agenda will be passed.

Question 22

Having a parliamentary majority will increase the likelihood that…

Answer 22

that the government’s legislative agenda will be passed

Question 23

PMs with Commons majorities

Answer 23

After landslide election victories in 1997 and 2001, Tony Blair did not suffer a single Commons defeat between 1997 and 2005.

Having won a majority after the 2015 general election, the Conservatives were able to pass laws they had been unable to pass in coalition, notably legislation paving the way to a referendum on EU membership.

Boris Johnson’s 80-seat parliamentary majority secured at the 2019 general election allowed him to steer through Brexit at the end of January 2020.

Question 24

PMs without Commons majorities

Answer 24

The halving of the Blair government’s Commons majority at the 2005 general election resulted in its first Commons defeat in 2006, when proposals on detaining terror suspects for up to 90 days were rejected.

With just a small Commons majority after 2015, the Tories lost a vote on loosening Sunday trading laws in March 2016.

In contrast, Theresa May was unable to steer through her Brexit legislation after failing to win a Commons majority at the 2017 general election, suffering the heaviest Commons defeat of any British prime minister when MPS rejected her Brexit bill by 230 votes in January 2019.

Question 25

Does large majority in Commons always mean that PMs will be able to pass legislation ?

Answer 25

Even prime ministers with large Commons majorities may be limited in the laws they are able to pass. If they sense that they could face a large rebellion among their own MPs, or if they feel they may lose, a vote might be pulled or changes might be made to the bill in order to win over wavering MPS.

Question 26

Party support

Answer 26

The prime minister can usually count upon the support of their party. To that end, they can use party whips to instill discipline and remove the whip from MPs who are disloyal. However, prime ministers can never take the support of their party for granted and those who do normally face a backlash or are even forced to resign.

Question 27

Examples of party support for prime ministers

Answer 27

After securing huge parliamentary majorities at the 1983 and 1987 general elections, most Conservative MPs united around Thatcher’s privatisation programme.

Despite Gordon Brown’s unpopularity as prime minister between 2007 and 2010, not a single Labour Party MP made an official attempt to hold a leadership contest.

Despite the Remain/Leave divide in the Tory Party, only one Tory MP (Ken Clarke) voted against triggering Article 50, the mechanism by which the UK informed the EU of its intention to leave.

Boris Johnson removed the whip of several Remain-supporting MPs and at the 2019 general election those MPs were replaced by pro-Brexit candidates. Subsequently, not a single Conservative MP voted against the EU Withdrawal Agreement Act 2020.

Question 28

Examples of when prime ministers have lacked party support

Answer 28

Splits over Europe and the introduction of the poll tax led to Thatcher’s resignation in November 1990, following a leadership contest that, after the first round of counting, indicated a lack of support among Tory backbenchers.

Brown still had few MPs willing to energetically defend him in the press.

Theresa May accepted that she would step down as prime minister after the Brexit process was completed, a price she had to pay for surviving a motion of no confidence as party leader in December 2018.

Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party remains divided over the size of government, with neo-liberals fearing increases in spending and One Nation Conservatives in the ‘red wall’ seats that were won from Labour in 2019 calling for public investment.

Question 29

Personal mandate

Answer 29

The individual authority claimed by prime ministers to steer the policy direction of government, largely as a result of their popularity, recent election victories and personal attributes.

Question 30

Personal mandate
The prime minister’s personal qualities may

Answer 30

may bolster their authority and their ability to dominate government and Parliament.

Furthermore, if they win a general election, they often claim authority to introduce the policies they care most about or to force through reforms that might be unpopular within their own party.

Conversely, a prime minister who lacks charisma and gravitas, or who is not seen as a ‘winner, will find their authority much reduced.

Question 31

Prime ministers who were able to claim a personal mandate

Answer 31

Tory Blair’s skyrocketing approval ratings in the early years of his premiership gave him greater authority in Parliament to enact controversial public-sector reforms that were opposed by many within his own party.

David Cameron consistently polled more favourably than his own party, allowing him to introduce policies that were close to his heart, most notably his Big Society programme and National Citizen Service.

Question 32

Prime ministers who struggled to claim a personal mandate

Answer 32

Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair without a leadership contest or a general election, limiting his legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

Theresa May was accused of lacking empathy when she initially failed to meet residents of Grenfell Tower after the building had caught fire in June 2017.

Question 33

The qualities that increase the appeal and authority of a prime minister could be seen as a…

Answer 33

double-edged sword. Cameron and Blair were seen by some as comfortable in the media spotlight but by others as lacking in sincerity, as too smooth’ and thus dishonest.