UK Executive Flashcards
Secretaries of State
Ministers that head departments
Junior minister
Holds a position below cabinet level that works in Lords, or in a department
Frontbencher
Government minister or shadow government minister
Backbencher
Not a minister (anyone else)
Cabinet office
Support collective government, helping to ensure the effective development, coordination and implementation of policy
Cabinet committee
Ministers that take collective decisions that are binding across the government
Royal prerogative
The rights of the sovereign that have no transferred to the PM
Hung parliament
A parliament with no clear majority
Sofa politics
Refers to the conducting of meetings outside the cabinet so they can control policy making (Blair)
Types of Ministerial responsibility
- Collective Ministerial responsibility
- Individual Ministerial responsibility
Collective Ministerial responsibility
Boris Johnson (Foreign secretary) and Davis Davis resigned following Theresa May’s chequer’s agreement (Brexit deal)– July 2018
Individual Ministerial responsibility
2018 -Amber Rudd resigned following the Windrush scandal. Changes to immigration policy led to some Windrush members being potentially deported. Rudd denied having targets for deportation. Leaked memo showed that a target had been set for 2017-18. Rudd shortly returned to the cabinet as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
2004 - Secretary of State for Defence, Geoff Hoon, had to explain to the House why a soldier had died in Iraq. Soldier died because the MOD hadn’t supplied enough body armour for the number of troops.
Johnson’s Cabinet
Rishi Sunak is currently Chancellor of the Exchequer, Priti Patel is the Home Secretary, Dominic Raab is Foreign Secretary, Ben Wallace is Secretary for Defence.
Blair’s Cabinet
Had loyalists such as G. Brown in Cabinet for entirety of premiership
Thatcher’s Cabinet
Resignations and disagreements with Cabinet forced her resignation, EG Deputy Geoffrey Howe.
Cabinet government
Developed in 19th century. Cabinet ‘fuses’ the exec and legislative. PM is ‘first among equals’. Arguably outdated. May seen many cabinet resignations and lack of support (Boris Johnson, David Davis, Justine Greening, Philip Lee, Dominic Raab…). Sajid Javid resigned Johnson’s government Feb ’20
Prime ministerial/ presidential
PM dominates policy making procedure and makes major government decision without the cabinet. Alastair Campbell, press secretary, said that Blair wanted all interview requests for ministers to go through him first.
Increased use of PM’s office (which resides inside 10 downing street). It is staffed with a mixture of civil servants and special advisors. It has 3 parts, created in 2001: policy and government, communication and strategy, government and political relations.
Spatial leadership: This is where the PM steps out from the party and is seen as separate. Blair and Thatcher did this.
Core executive
Neither PM or cabinet are independent. It is a mixture of the PM’s office and cabinet working together.
Theories of executive power
- Cabinet government
- Prime ministerial/ presidential
- Core executive
Role of the Prime Minister
- Making government
- Directing government policy
- National leadership
- Controlling Parliament
Making government
Appointing cabinet members. May appointed a mixed cabinet of remainers and Brexiteers. She was a Remainer, whilst foreign secretary, Boris Johnson was a Brexiteer.
Directing government policy
May introduced Universal Credit. Tony Blair had a focus on education - Spending per pupil increased 55% by the end of his 10 years, one adult for every 11 pupils in schools, education received 5.6% of GDP
National leadership
Thatcher was the face of the Falklands War response. Blair stepped up when Diana died.
Controlling Parliament
Limited for May with no majority, but Blair’s majority of 179 meant he could pass almost anything. May has seen several government defeats (Government Brexit plans rejected twice – December 2018 and 12th March 2019 by 149 votes).
Powers of the Prime Minister
- Foreign Policy leader
- Exercising royal prerogative
- Calling elections
- Proroguing Parliament
Foreign Policy leader
Dictate the direction. However, constitutional convention created by Blair, 2003. Cameron rejected to aid Americans in Syria by Parliament in 2013. Blair - Bombing campaign against Iraq, 1998, intervention in Kosovo, 1999, intervention in Sierra Leone, 2000, air strikes and invasion of Afghanistan, 2001, war in Iraq, 2003
Exercising royal prerogative
This can include granting honours. Blair’s “cash for honours” scandal 2006-2007. Royal pardons can be given. 2013 saw Alan Turing granted a pardon as he had been charged with gross indecency in 1952. Angelo Fusco, an IRA member convicted of killing an SAS pilot in 1980 was granted a pardon in 2000, allowing him to return to Ireland.
Calling elections
Fixed Term Parliament Act 2011 has made this more difficult. Snap election called in 2017. Most parliaments before the Fixed Term Parliament act would last around 5 years. Another election called in 2019, but initially was not allowed as other parties did not vote for it.
Proroguing Parliament
Johnson prorogued parliament in September 2019, but it was found unlawful by the Supreme Court in October 2019, ending it.
Oversight of the Executive
- Inquiries (ordered by the governing body)
- Parliamentary sovereignty
- Liaison Committee
Inquiries (ordered by the governing body)
Leveson inquiry, 2012. Examined medias ethics and code of practice – linked to PM because of Blair’s close relationship with media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.
Chilcot inquiry, 2010: An inquiry into the Iraq war. Took 6 years to complete. Reported that at the time of invasion, Saddam Husain did not pose a threat to UK. Blair was a prime witness. Some say the report suggests the Blair lied to the public.
Parliamentary sovereignty
2003 – Blair created constitutional convention for voting on military action. May ignored this with Airstrikes in Syria in April 2018.
2018 – Miller V Secretary of the State for Exiting the EU. SC ruled in favour of Miller who was arguing that Parliament needed to vote before Article 50 could be triggered.
4th Dec – government found in contempt for the first time in history as it did not fully disclose legal advice regarding Brexit when asked. Passed with a vote of 311-293
Government Brexit plans rejected twice – December 2018 and 12th March 2019 by 149 votes)
Liaison Committee
The PM appears yearly since 2002 in front of the committee to give reasoning behind public policy. Boris Johnson famously refused to meet with the liaison committee in October 2019
