UK executive Flashcards
1
Q
what are the main institutions of executive
A
- Prime Minister: head of government and chair of cabinet
- Cabinet: Committee of senior ministers ultimate decision making body of government
- ministers: appointed by PM to specify policy portfolios within the government
- government departments: main administrative units of central government each dealing with a particular area of policy
2
Q
what are the main roles of the executive
A
- Making policy decisions: set political priorities and determine countries overall political direction
- proposing legislation: executive devises and initiates legislation government has law making power on secondary legislation
- proposing the budget: Chancellor set out proposed levels of taxation and public spending following negotiations in cabinet
3
Q
what powers do the executive have
A
- Prerogative powers
- making and ratifying treaties
- international diplomacy
- deployment of armed forces
- organization of civil service
- Control of legislative power
- executive control of timetable and majority of their bills pass
- PMBs that don’t have government support often fail
4
Q
what are the key functions of the PM (7)
A
- political leadership: decides political direction taken by government, setting its priorities and strategy e.g. Theresa May moved UK towards Brexit
- National leadership: PM is the dominant political figure in UK and provides national leadership at times of crisis e.g. Boris Johnson during COVID also commander in chief
- PM determines membership of government by appointing and dismissing ministers
- PM chairs cabinet meetings sets its agenda and steers its direction. Can create cabinet committees
- responsible for overall organization of government and head of civil service
- Relations with parliament: PM makes statements and answers questions in Commons and shapes government legislature programme
- represents UK in international relations and diplomacy
5
Q
what is the Prime Ministers office
A
- no official department for PM but made up of 190 staff including civil servants and special advisors which help PM by
- Policy advise: Provides PM with advise that may differ from ministers. PM appoints own special advisors, Chief of Staff most important and is at center of all operations
- Communications: presentation of government policy. Senior civil servant deals with government communications following Blairs personal aide Alastair Campbell facing criticism
6
Q
what is patronage powers
A
power of an individual to appoint someone to an important position in exchange for loyalty
7
Q
how do life peers help patronage powers
A
- PM can appoint people to House of Lords as life peers
- enables them to change party balance of Lords
- Blair appointed 162 life peers
CONSTRAINTS - after ‘cash for honors’ scandal nominations must now be considered by Honors committee made up of civil servants and people independent of government
- also now can’t make judicial appointments
8
Q
how can appointing Cabinet ministers help patronage powers
A
- in theory can reward loyalty and punish disloyalty giving PM huge advantage over colleagues
- in practice however PM doesn’t have free hand to do what he wants e.g. May didn’t appoint 15 ministers from Cameron’s cabinet in 2016 those MPs then caused issues in backbenches
- PMs also have to deal with party ideologies e.g. Thatcher’s ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ conservatives and Blairs new and old Labor wings of party
9
Q
why is cabinet management important for PMs
A
- being too domineering (Thatcher) or too indecisive (Major) can weaken PMs authority
- effective PM will act as coordinator or broker on disputed issues
10
Q
what is agenda setting in cabinet
A
- PM can determine the agenda of cabinet meetings by:
- Controlling information presented to ministers by determining which issues and papers should be brought before the cabinet
- keeping potentially difficult issues off cabinet agendas by dealing with them in bilateral meetings with relevant ministers
- deciding the chair, membership and remit of cabinet committees
11
Q
what is a cabinet committee
A
- group of ministers that can “ take collective decisions that are binding across government”
- designed to reduce burden on full cabinet by allowing smaller groups of ministers to take decisions on specific policy areas
- others see it as giving too much power to PM as they can avoid setting full cabinet committees
- useful in coalition e.g. Cameron, Clegg
- can be used to avoid difficult issues with full committee
12
Q
what is the presdentialisation of PM theory (6)
A
- Theory by Michael Foley which describe how UK PMs have taken on some characteristics of a president which is characterized by spatial leadership and public outreach
- theory doesn’t claim PM is same as US president
- personalized leadership: expected to be dominant political personality who stamps their imprint on government and imposes a personal vision . Evident in election campaigns and party organization treated as personal mandate
- public outreach: media spotlight falls on PM more than any other minister PM expected to connect with popular mood
- Spatial leadership: Distance between PM and government. PM now relies more on own inner circle of advisors then on cabinet system e.g. Blair and Cameron presented themselves as party outsiders
- However also creates issues as PM now blamed for policy or personal failures e.g. Blair after Iraq
13
Q
what is the rubber band theory
A
- theory created by George Jones that describes how PMs should act in cabinet
- if PM is too domineering after a period of time Rubber band will snap and they will lose their authority e.g. Thatcher
- if PM is too slack rubber band will be loose and their authority will be weakened
