Prime Minister

Question 1

Meaning of executive

Answer 1

the decision-making branch of government, centred on the prime minister and Cabinet and its committees.

Question 2

Meaning of cabinet

Answer 2

the group of senior ministers, chaired by the prime minister, which is the main collective decision making body in the
government.

Question 3

Meaning of minister

Answer 3

A member of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords who serves in government, usually exercising specific responsibilities in a department.

Question 4

Meaning of government department

Answer 4

a part of the executive, usually with specific responsibility over an area Such as education. health or
defence.

Question 5

Power structure of the executive (top down)

Answer 5

The Prime Minister
The Cabinet
Government Departments
Executive agencies

Question 6

Info about PM

Answer 6

•Head of the executive who chairs the Cabinet and manages its agenda
• Appoints all members of the cabinet and junior ministers. and decides who sits on cabinet
committees
•Organises the structure of government - can create, abolish or merge departments

Question 7

How many elements of the cabinet and who can attend its meetings?

Answer 7

• Consists of 20 to 23 senior ministers, including those who hold the title secretary of state
•Several senior figures are not members of the Cabinet but attend its meetings

Question 8

What issues do cabinet meetings deal with?

Answer 8

• Many decisions taken in Cabinet committees, which deal with particular areas of policy such as economic affairs and national security

Question 9

What supports the cabinet?

Answer 9

•Administrative support and help in delivering policy is provided by the Cabinet Office, headed by the Cabinet secretary, the UK’s most senior civil servant

Question 10

What are gov departments responsible for?

Answer 10

Each one responsible for an area of policy, e.g. the Ministry of Defence, Department for Transport

Question 11

Who heads departments and who supports them?

Answer 11

• Each headed by a Cabinet minister, supported by several junior ministers responsible for specific aspects of the work of the department

Question 12

What are executive agencies?

Answer 12

• Semi-independent bodies that carry out some of the functions of government departments, for example, the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) is overseen by the
Departmentor Transport

Question 13

Example of heir-achy of typical government department

Answer 13

1. Justine Greening MP
   Secretary of State for Education
   (also Minister for Women and Equalities) - leads the department
2. Junior ministers
   • Nick Gibb MP - Minister of State for School Standards
   • Jo Johnson MP - Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation Robert Halfon MP - Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills Edward Timpson MP - Minister of State for Vulnerable Children and Families
3. • Caroline Dinenage MP - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Women, Equalities and Early Years
   • Lord Nash - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the School System

Question 14

Ministers relationship to parliamentary under secretaries of state

Answer 14

Ministers of state are senior to parliamentary under secretaries of state. Notice that the department has a junior minister (Lord Nash) to represent it in the House of Lords.

Question 15

Overall purpose of the executive

Answer 15

defence of the country. It is responsible for public services including the National Health Service, welfare benefits and the criminal justice system. Since devolution, some of these functions have been transferred from the core executive in London to devolved bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Question 16

3 Main roles of the executive

Answer 16

-Proposing Legislation
-Proposing the budget
-Making policy decisions

Question 17

Cabinet gov vs prime ministerial gov

Answer 17

The executive has at its disposal a number of powers, some of which it exercises collectively. while others are in the hands of the prime minister, who may make use of them in consultation with a handful of senior ministerial colleagues and officials. The way in which these powers are deployed has given rise to the debate on whether the UK can be said to have a system of Cabinet
government , or of ‘prime ministerial government.

Question 18

When does the executive propose legislation?

Answer 18

The executive introduces proposals for new laws or amendments to existing laws.

-It announces a new programme at the start of each parliamentary session in the Queen’s speech, which is read out to both Houses of Parliament by the monarch, but is written by the government.

-The executive does not, of course, confine itself to measures proposed in a party manifesto ata general election. It also has the power to introduce legislation to contend with emergencies, such as the threat of terrorism, and to amend existing statutes in order to bring the UK into line with
international law. This is known as a doctor’s mandate

Question 19

Examples of announcements at 2015 Queen’s Speech

Answer 19

For example. the May 2015 Queen’s speech reflected the priorities of the Conservative government that had just been elected under the leadership of David Cameron, including proposals for:
•an in/out referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union
• measures to ensure that decisions affecting England, or England and Wales, would be taken ord with the consent of MPs from those parts of the UK
• legislation to protect essential public services against strikes.

Question 20

What often happens before legislation is introduced?

Answer 20

Ministers will often consult with interested parties, such as pressure groups and professional bodies, before introducing legislation.

Question 21

Example of consulting interested parties before introduction of legislation

Answer 21

For example, in 2015 the Cameron government undertook a consultation exercise with employers on its proposal to introduce an apprenticeship levy, a requirement for large companies to contribute towards the cost of training new workers. This was introduced in 2017.

Question 22

What is the budget?

Answer 22

The budget is an annual statement of the government’s plans for changes to taxation and public spending.

Question 23

Who creates the budget and when is it announced normally?

Answer 23

The government needs to raise revenue in order to fund public services and to meet its spending priorities. The budget is created by the chancellor of the exchequer in consultation with the prime minister, and is revealed to the rest of the Cabinet shortly before it is delivered. The budget is an annual statement of the government’s plans for changes to taxation and public spending.

-In recent years, the budget has been presented to the House of Commons for approval in March, but this moved to November from 2017. Now back to March.

Question 24

When else may the budget be announced and example?

Answer 24

If a new government comes to power after a general election, it introduces a budget of its own, even if the previous government has already presented one.

For example, in June 2010 George Osborne, chancellor in the new coalition government, delivered an emergency budget only 90 days after the previous Labour government’s budget.

Question 25

What are policy decisions and examples 2010-15?

Answer 25

The executive has to decide how to give effect to its aims for the future direction of the country.
Examples of important policy decisions taken by the 2010-15 coalition government include:
•streamlining the welfare system by introducing a single benefit for working-age people, known as Universal Credit
•allowing parents and voluntary groups to set up ‘free schools, independent of local councils
• introducing more competition into the National Health Service (at least in England) and putting
GPs In control of the commissioning of care for patients.

Question 26

What is the royal prerogative?

Answer 26

a set of powers and privileges belonging to the monarch our normally exercised by the prime minister or Cabinet, such as the eranting of honours or of legal pardons.

Question 27

What are royal prerogative powers?

Answer 27

Royal prerogative powers are powers that historically belonged to the Crown, but which over lime have been transferred to the prime minister or other ministers. Many of these are not properly defined. They are not set out in statutes but are based largely on the practice of previous governments.

Question 28

List of main prerogative powers

Answer 28

-award honours (a handful are given personally by the monarch)
-appoint ministers and other senior office holders
-declare war and
authorise the use of the armed forces
-grant legal pardons
-sign treaties
-grant and withdraw passports
-take action to maintain order in case of emergency

Question 29

Changes to royal prerogative powers in recent years (2)

Answer 29

-The 2011 Fixed Term Parliaments Act removed the right of the prime minister to determine the date of the general election. However, as in the case of Theresa May, who called an early general election for June 2017, it is possible for the prime minister to override the act with the support enough MPs. (Repealed)
-Since the parliamentary debate on the Iraq War in 2003, and the 2013 debate on air strikes in Syria, governments have accepted that military action requires prior parliamentary approval.
In case of an emergency, the government retains the right to deploy troops and then to secure approval afterwards

Question 30

Share of time for initiation of legislation

Answer 30

The executive controls most of the parliamentary time available for legislation. The exceptions to this are 20 opposition days, 13 days set aside for private member’s bills, and a variable amount of time allocated for debates chosen by the Backbench Business Committee.

Question 31

Where are most important bills introduced?

Answer 31

Legislation can be introduced in either the Commons or the Lords but it is usual for the most important bills to go to the Commons first.

Question 32

Importance of majority for getting through legislation

Answer 32

If the government has a majority in the Commons, it can usually rely on the party whipping syster and the power of patronage to push through its programme. Rebellions can occur, although it is rare for a government to be defeated on the second or third reading of a bill.

Question 33

What is the allocation of time motion?

Answer 33

The executive has several tools to strengthen its hold over the passage of legislation. The guillotine
-formally known as an ‘allocation of time motion’ - which dates back to 1887, is a procedure that allows the government to curtail debate on the individual clauses of a bill. It applies only in the Commons.

Question 34

Example of failure to use guillotine motion

Answer 34

An attempt by the Cameron government to use the guillotine in a Lords debate on the redrawing of constituency boundaries was abandoned after opposition in 2011.

Question 35

What did the programme motion do?

Answer 35

The programmine motion, introduced by the Blair government, enables the executive to set out in advance the time limits for each stage in the passage of a bill.

Question 36

Recent power for the executive relating legislation since 2002

Answer 36

since 2002 it has been possible for the government to carry over uncompleted legislation from one session to another, without having to
start again from the beginning of the legislative process in the new session

Question 37

What is secondary legislation?

Answer 37

Secondary (or delegated) legislation is law made without passing a new act of parliament.
Instead the government uses powers created by an earlier act.

Question 38

Most common form of secondary legislation and why are they useful?

Answer 38

The most common form of secondary legislation is statutory instruments. These enable a government to modify or repeal existing legislation without introducing a new bill. Clearly it would be pointlessly time-consuming to enact new legislation every time the government needs to amend or update the detail of existing regulations.

Question 39

Problems with growing use statutory instruments

Answer 39

Critics have raised concerns about the growing use of statutory instruments to make more controversial changes. For example in 2016 statutory instruments were used to abolish maintenance grants for university students and to allow fracking in national parks Opposition politicians and press commentators argued that the government was sneaking these
changes through the back door. Statutory instruments are sometimes called Henry VIII clauses because they enable the government to evade parliamentary scrutiny. Although parliament can debate and. in theorv. reject a statutory instrument. about two-thirds of them simply become law
on a specified date in the future. without being out before MPs

Question 40

Example of use of statutory instruments

Answer 40

For example in 2016 statutory instruments were used to abolish maintenance grants for university students and to allow fracking in national parks. Opposition politicians and press commentators argued that the government was sneaking these
changes through the back door.

Question 41

Considerations governing the prime minister’s selection of ministers (5)

Answer 41

-The importance of including individuals with ability and experience
-Establishing a prime minister’s authority
-Rewarding loyalty and including key allies - but also conciliating potential rivals
-Maintaining a balance between different factions within the governing party
-Meeting expectations of diversity

Question 42

Example of time PM had to let someone else appoint ministers

Answer 42

The power to appoint, reshuffle and dismiss ministers belongs exclusively to the prime minister.
There has only been one exception to this in recent times. As part of the negotiations to form the coalition in May 2010, David Cameron had to allow the Liberal Democrats five of the 22 Cabinet posts. Nominations to these (and to an agreed number of junior posts) were the preserve of the Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg. When a Liberal Democrat minister resigned, Clegg found a replacement from his own party. This meant that there was a formal constraint on the prime minister’s power of appointment.

Question 43

The importance of including individuals with ability and experience

Answer 43

Prime ministers do not have the luxury of an unlimited pool of talent in the parliamentary party. There will always be a large number of MPs who are ‘natural backbenchers’ - who do not have the aptitude for high office, or whose views place them too far outside the mainstream to make them acceptable as ministers. General ability as an administrator and communicator is more important than detailed knowledge of a particular policy area, as each department is staffed by civil servants who supply an incoming minister with the necessary specialist support. There are some exceptions: both Gordon Brown and George Osborne served substantial apprenticeships as shadow chancellor before taking over at the Treasury. In any party there will be senior figures who will need to be included. A prime minister who has come to office by winning a leadership contest will usually include their defeated rivals in recognition of their standing within the party.
For example, John Major retained Douglas Hurd at the Foreign Office in 1990 and offered the other leadership candidate, Michael Heseltine, a choice of senior posts.

Question 44

Explain establishing a prime minister’s authority

Answer 44

An incoming prime minister, even ore who replaces a premier of the same party midway through a parliament, will want to stamp their own authority on the government. Not all prime ministers make radical changes to the team they inherit. For example, John Major did not remove key people associated with Margaret Thatcher
when he look over in 1990, but waited until he had won his own general election 18 months
later. By contrast Theresa May was determined to distance herself from David Cameron’s administration when she became prime minister in 2016. The former chancellor. George
Osborne, was the most prominent figure from the previous government to be sacked. A further nine senior ministers lost their jobs over the next 24 hours.

Question 45

Example of keeping old ministers to establish authority

Answer 45

For example, John Major did not remove key people associated with Margaret Thatcher
when he look over in 1990, but waited until he had won his own general election 18 months
later.

Question 46

Example of getting rid of old ministers to establish authority

Answer 46

By contrast Theresa May was determined to distance herself from David Cameron’s administration when she became prime minister in 2016. The former chancellor. George
Osborne, was the most prominent figure from the previous government to be sacked. A further nine senior ministers lost their jobs over the next 24 hours.

Question 47

Example of rewarding key allies

Answer 47

Blair began his second term in 2001 by appointing several committed supporters of the New Labour project to key positions, including David Blunkett as home secretary and Alan Milburn as health secretary. They were also personally loyal to him.

Question 48

Example of conciliating potential rivalries

Answer 48

It is politically wise to occupy potentially troublesome MPs with senior posts, even it this means handling tensions within the team. Blair’s
appointment of brown as chancellor. and his acceptance that he could not move him to another
post against his wishes is a good example of this limitation on a prime minister’s freedom of
action.

Question 49

Example of Maintaining a balance between different factions within the governing party

Answer 49

In order to maintain party unity it is often necessary to find posts for MPs with different ideological views from those of the prime minister. Taking over after the 2016 EU referendum, Theresa May had
to include prominent supporters of Brexit, such as Boris Johnson Foreien Secretary and Liam Fox (International Trade Secretary), as well as individuals who - like her - had supported the
‘Remain’ side, such as Philip Hammond (Chancellor) and Amber Rudd (Home Secretary).

Also Suella as Home by Sunak

Question 50

Meeting expectations of diversity history

Answer 50

When he formed his first Cabinet in 1990, John Major faced adverse comment for including no women - something that he later corrected. Since then it has become the norm for prime ministers to appoint a number of female ministers, and not only to middle- and lower-ranking Cabinet posts. Margaret Beckett, made foreign secretary by lony Blair in 2006. was the first woman to hold one of the three most senior posts under the
prime minister. There has also been greater representation of ethnic-minority groups in recent years. Sajid Javid, a leading MP of Asian background, has served in both the Cameron and May governments.

Question 51

Concern about presidential government

Answer 51

The Cabinet is formally responsible for policy-making. However, in recent times it has been more usual for decisions to be taken elsewhere, and it is often claimed that the executive is now dominated by the prime minister to an undue degree. Some commentators have argued that the result has been the rise of presidential government - the idea that leadership is becoming much more personalised, and that prime ministers are distant from, and much less dependent on. traditional institutions such as the Cabinet.

Question 52

Meaning of presidential government

Answer 52

an executive dominated by
one individual. This may be a president but can also describe a strong, dominant prime minister

Question 53

Factors that affect the relationship between the cabinet and the PM

Answer 53

-The management skills of the prime minister
-The prime minister’s ability to set the agenda
-The use of Cabinet committees and informal groups to take decisions
-The development of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Cabinet Office
-The impact of the wider political and economic situation

Question 54

How can the managerial skills of PM affect relationship with cabinet?

Answer 54

A determined and astute prime minister will exploit the elastic nature of the office to assert control over the Cabinet. The right to appoint and dismiss ministers can be used to reshape the top team, to remove poor performers and bring in new blood, and to marginalise opponents. This power should, however, be deployed with care.

Question 55

Example of Thatcher’s success and failure with management of the cabinet

Answer 55

For example, after establishing herself as prime minister in the early 1980s, Margaret Thatcher promoted supporters such as Nigel Lawson and Norman Tebbit in order to build a Cabinet in her own image.

However, by the end of the decade her dominance of the Cabinet and alienation of senior colleagues was starting to undermine her position. The resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Howe triggered a leadership challenge in November 1990.
When Thatcher needed the support of her Cabinet she found that goodwill had evaporated at the top, leading directly to her resignation.

Question 56

PM’s ability to set agenda

Answer 56

-Decisions are rarely, if ever, taken in Cabinet by holding a vote.
-The views of the most senior figures will usually command more weight.
-Most ministers will, in any case, be too concerned with their individual departmental responsibilities to challenge the consensus view on a matter of which they may have limited knowledge.
-The prime minister’s traditional right to chair the meeting and to sum up at the end is an important source of influence. -They can also keep certain items off the agenda of Cabinet meetings.

Question 57

Example of PM keeping certain items off the agenda of Cabinet meetings

Answer 57

Harold Wilson, for example, refused to allow discussion of devaluation of the pound in the period
1964-67, even though several ministers wanted to open up the argument.

Question 58

How does the use of Cabinet committees and informal groups to take decisions affect the PM-cabinet relationship?

Answer 58

-Since 1945 prime ministers have made increasing use of Cabinet committees to take decisions, which are later ratified by the full Cabinet.

-By choosing the membership of these committees and taking the chair of the most important ones - or placing this responsibility in the hands of a reliable ally - the prime minister can exercise a significant degree of control.

• Many decisions are taken in smaller, informal groups, or in bilateral meetings involving the prime minister and one colleague.

Question 59

Example of PM chairing committees

Answer 59

On entering Number 10, Theresa May decided to chair three important committees, including the one dealing with the crucial issue of Britain’s exit from the EU.

Question 60

Examples of informal decision making (2)

Answer 60

-For example, the market-sensitive decision to place management of interest rates in the hands of the Bank of England was taken by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown within days of the 1997 election victory, and the rest of the Cabinet were informed later.

-Under the coalition, the presence of two parties in government meant that it was necessary to have more discussion of policy in Cabinet. Yet, even then, an informal body known as ‘the Quad’ - David Cameron, Nick Clegg and their two most senior colleagues, Chancellor George Osborne and Chief Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander - met regularly to resolve differences between the coalition partners.

Question 61

What is the PM’s office?

Answer 61

Although there is no official ‘Prime Minister’s Department’, the prime minister has access to more resources than other ministers, with a Prime Minister’s Office in Number 10 Downing Street staffed by a combination of civil servants and special advisers drawn from the governing party.

Question 62

Development of PM’s office and cabinet office

Answer 62

-Harold Wilson created the Policy Unit in 1974 to enable the prime minister to gain an overview and to drive policy across departments.

-Under Blair there was close co-operation between the Prime Minister’s Office and the Cabinet Office to support the co-ordination and implementation of policy.

-The Press Office, which handles the government’s presentation in the media, also works closely with the prime minister. Under Blair it gained enhanced importance as part of a newly created Communications and Strategy Directorate in Downing Street. Although media management has been less obtrusive under later prime ministers, the capacity to get the government’s message across remains an important function of the Downing Street machine.

-Cameron initially adopted a more ‘hands off’ approach to government departments, allowing individual ministers more autonomy than under Blair and Brown but, after some policy embarrassments, he strengthened the centre once again with the creation of a Policy and Implementation Unit in 2011.

-Johnson daily Covid briefings

Question 63

How does the impact of the wider political and economic situation affect the PM-cabinet relationship?

Answer 63

It is important to note that the degree to which the prime minister can dominate the Cabinet is affected by a variety of external pressures. A prime minister with a large parliamentary majority and a united party, such as Blair in the wake of the 1997 Labour landslide, will find it much easier to gain ascendancy than one like Major, whose control over the Commons was precarious from 1992 onwards. Popularity with the public, a booming economy and an ability to master events rather than appear as their victim all strengthen the hand of the prime minister in dealing with the Cabinet. Margaret Thatcher’s standing improved enormously after victory in the 1982 Falklands War.

Question 64

How did the wider political and economic situation damage Brown’s ability to control cabinet?

Answer 64

Gordon Brown was harmed by his decision not to hold a general election on becoming prime minister, after allowing expectations of a contest to build, and his authority was further undermined by the financial crash of 2007-08. The weakness of his position was underlined in 2009 when it became known that Alistair Darling, the chancellor, had refused to take another post so that Brown could replace him with his favoured candidate, Ed Balls. Brown could not afford the additional damage that the high-profile resignation of his chancellor would cause at a time of economic crisis

Question 65

Arguments that the Cabinet remains
an important body (4)

Answer 65

-The Cabinet approves government decisions, so confers legitimacy on them in the eyes of parliament and the public. A minister who cannot accept the agreed line, such as Robin Cook over the Iraq War, should resign from the Cabinet.

-On important issues the PM recognises the need for Cabinet support. After completing his renegotiation of the UK’s membership of the EU in 2016, Cameron presented the deal to a full Cabinet meeting. The Cabinet is also important in times of national crisis, such as a military conflict, although (as in the Falklands War in 1982) day-to-day decisions may be taken by a smaller War Cabinet’ of key ministers and armed service leaders, whose decisions are then reported to the full Cabinet.

-The Cabinet is where the programme of government business in parliament is discussed. In theory it is also where disagreements between government departments are resolved.

-The UK does not have a ‘presidential system in reality, even if it has some characteristics of one. The fall of Thatcher demonstrates the continuing importance of keeping the support of the Cabinet.

Question 66

Arguments the prime minister is the dominant force in government (5)

Answer 66

-Decisions are commonly taken by Cabinet committees, hand-picked by the PM, or in small groups and bilateral meetings, such as the 1997 Blair/Brown decision to hand control of interest rates to the Bank of England. Cabinet rubber stamps’ decisions taken elsewhere.
-The PM controls the agenda and length of Cabinet meetings (less than an hour under some PMs). It only meets once a week, and then only while parliament is sitting, unless an emergency occurs. -Most ministers do not feel qualified, and are too immersed in their own departments, to be able to offer an informed view on the detail of matters outside their remit. Most are reluctant to challenge the PM, who has the power to dismiss or demote ministers.
-In practice disputes are usually resolved outside the Cabinet, in committees or by the intervention of the PM (for example, Cameron’s settlement of the 2011 clash between Energy Secretary Chris Huhne and Business Secretary Vince Cable on the level of carbon emission targets to which the UK should sign up).
-The media focus heavily on the PM (for example, in the televised leadership debates in the 2010 and 2015 elections). Modern PMs tend to project themselves as national leaders, separate from the institutions of government, and with a personal mandate from the people for action.

Question 67

Example of dispute being solved outside cabinet

Answer 67

for example, Cameron’s settlement of the 2011 clash between Energy Secretary Chris Huhne and Business Secretary Vince Cable on the level of carbon emission targets to which the UK should sign up.

Question 68

Debate viewership of Truss-Sunak debate

Answer 68

One had 3.7 million

Question 69

Where are PM’s powers written down?

Answer 69

The nature and extent of the prime minister’s powers have been a matter for debate for generations. The reason for this is that, under Britain’s uncodified constitution, there is no precise and comprehensive definition of the role. The Cabinet Office prepared a list of the prime minister’s functions in 1947, during the premiership of Clement Attlee, which was updated by the historian Lord Hennessy in 1995 and again in 2011. However, this does not have the force of a legally binding document.

Question 70

List of PM’s powers (5)

Answer 70

-Appointment, reshuffling and dismissal of government ministers
-Management of Cabinet, including chairing its meetings, controlling the agenda and summing up its conclusions
-Providing national leadership and representing the UK in international
affairs
-Leadership of the largest party in the House of Commons
-Direction of government policy, with a special responsibility for economic and foreign policy and for decisions,
to use military force
-Responsibility for the overall shape and structure of government, including the number and functions of
government departments

Question 71

Factors which may enhance or restrict the prime minister’s powers (4)

Answer 71

-The extent to which the governing party
and cabinet are united
-The popularity of the prime minister and size of the governing party’s parliamentary majority
-The personality and leadership style of the prime minister
-The impact of external pressures such as the state of the economy and unforeseen crises in foreign affairs

Question 72

View of major when he became PM

Answer 72

John Major was little-known to the general public when he unexpectedly took over from a very dominant and long-serving prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, in November 1990. He had served less than four years in the Cabinet before becoming prime minister, more than half of this time as chief secretary to the Treasury, a position that does not normally give its occupant a high profile outside Westminster. Major was chosen partly because he was expected to provide calm and stability, and a less divisive approach to government than Thatcher had adopted.

Question 73

Overall view of Major as PM

Answer 73

Major surprised many observers by winning (with a small majority of 21 seats) a further general election victory for the Conservatives in April 1992. However his second term as prime minister was fraught with problems and in May 1997 his Labour rival, Tony Blair, won a crushing 179-seat majority. For this reason Major is commonly seen as a weak and unsuccessful prime minister.

Question 74

How did Major establish power successfully early on as PM?

Answer 74

-Major won credit in his first 18 months in office by acting decisively to replace the unpopular poll tax with the less-controversial council tax, which remains the system of local government finance today. This helped to distance his government from the confrontational and ‘uncaring’ reputation of his predecessor. The speed with which the new system was put in place helped Major to win re-election in 1992.

-Major was regarded as having handled the first Gulf War in early 1991 effectively. The war was fought to expel Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, from Kuwait, which he had invaded shortly before Major took office. Major worked effectively with Britain’s US allies, led by President George H.W. Bush, and struck the right note both in dealing with British forces and in uniting British public opinion. This enhanced Major’s standing as a national leader.

Question 75

Economic problems under Major (2)

Answer 75

-As chancellor of the exchequer in October 1990, he had persuaded a reluctant Thatcher to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). On ‘Black Wednesday’ in September 1992, market pressure forced the pound out of the ERM, even though the government frantically raised interest rates in a bid to uphold its place within the specified exchange-rate limits imposed by the system. This event fatally damaged Major’s reputation for economic competence and, although the economy recovered, with both inflation and unemployment falling by the mid-1990s, he gained no credit with the general public.

-Major was also unfortunate that Labour, steered by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, was distancing itself from the damaging ‘tax and spend’ image of the party in previous years, and so appeared more responsible as a potential manager of the economy.

Question 76

Overall record of cabinet management under Major

Answer 76

Major adopted a more collegial style of Cabinet management than Thatcher, allowing more discussion and deliberately acting in a more inclusive way. His lack of ideological commitments also seemed attractive. However, when things started to go wrong, these strengths became weaknesses. Colleagues did not respect and fear him as they had done his predecessor, and some doubted if he had firm beliefs on issues that mattered.

Question 77

Problems with control of party and cabinet under Major

Answer 77

Major’s control of his party and Cabinet was seriously undermined during his second term.

-Conflict over the European Union was one of the root causes of his difficulties. His party contained a hard core of ‘Eurosceptic backbenchers, who saw the EU as a threat to the UK’s national sovereignty, and were particularly hostile to the Maastricht Treaty. Certainly, Major secured opt-outs for Britain from joining the planned single European currency, and from the ‘Social Chapter’ that increased European intervention in social policy. However, many Conservative MPs were not pacified by these concessions. Backbench revolts meant that Major secured the Treaty’s passage through the Commons by only one vote in Julv 1993. He presided over an increasingly divided Cabinet.

The spectacle of disunity created an impression of weak leadership, which led to open ridicule of Major in parliament and the media. His attempt to restore his authority in June 1995, by resigning the party leadership and inviting any of his critics to run against him, failed to achieve its purpose. Although he comfortably saw off the challenger, former Welsh Secretary John Redwood, the infighting continued and contributed to the government’s catastrophic defeat at the polls two years later.

Question 78

Sympathetic view of Major’s style of controlling party and cabinet

Answer 78

A sympathetic view of Major would argue that he successfully balanced pro- and anti-European ministers by taking a moderate line, Whereas a leader with more pronounced views, such as Michael Heseltine (who served as environment secretary, trade and industry secretary a finally deputy prime minister), might have provoked a worse split.

Question 79

Problems regarding John Major’s policy legacy

Answer 79

The fact that Major and his team had to devote so much time to day-to-day parliamentary management, with a disappearing majority and a divided party, hampered his chances of leaving a distinct legacy in terms of policy. He seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time on crisis management, trying to paper over the cracks on Europe and also coping with a series of financial and sexual scandals involving junior ministers and backbenchers, dubbed ‘sleaze’ by the press. One of Major’s aims was to make public services more accountable to their users
- an approach that was sometimes called ‘Thatcherism with a human face - but little came of this. The ‘Citizen’s Charter’ was an attempt to lay down expectations for the performance of schools, hospitals and other bodies, but it failed to capture the public imagination. Rail privatisation was consistent with Thatcher’s policy of reducing the size of the state sector and bringing in competition. However, the way that it was accomplished led to widespread criticism, in particular of the decision to separate responsibility for track from the running of train services. Overall Major appeared to be reacting to events rather than driving forward a clear and popular agenda.

Question 80

Major’s progress in NI

Answer 80

Progress towards a peace deal in Northern Ireland, which had been riven for over two decades by sectarian conflict between unionists and republicans, was one of the more positive aspects of Major’s premiership. He managed to establish trust with both sides through the December 1993 Downing Street Declaration, which ruled out the imposition of a united Ireland against the wishes of the unionists, while showing respect for the aspirations of the nationalist community. There was a return to violence in Major’s final year as prime minister, but he had laid the foundations on which Tony Blair was able to build.

Question 81

Overall positive view of Major

Answer 81

After a promising start, a combination of adverse circumstances and Major’s own personality combined to cause him to lose control. Within months of his knife-edge 1992 election victory, Britain’s departure from the Exchange Rate Mechanism blasted his government’s reputation for economic competence. Grappling with internal party divisions over Europe, and with a series of damaging scandals, Major seemed always to be reacting to events rather than driving forward an agenda of his own. He never gained credit for the positive achievements of his premiership such as the beginnings of economic recovery and peace in Northern Ireland.

Question 82

Summary of Blair’s tenure

Answer 82

Tony Blair was a strong contrast with John Major in terms of governing style. While still leader of the opposition he taunted Major mercilessly over his divided following. ‘There is one very big difference’ he told the Commons in April 1995, ‘I lead my party, he follows his.’ Blair combined a ruthless insistence on unity and discipline with an acute awareness of how to project a winning image through the media. The remodelling of Labour as an attractive, modernising centre party, together with the evident weaknesses of Major’s government, gave Blair a decisive victory in May 1997. He went on to win again, almost as overwhelmingly, in June 2001. Even after the loss of 100 seats in his final general election in May 2005, Blair still had a majority of 66. This meant that he did not suffer a defeat in the Commons until the autumn of 2005, on a proposal to extend the time that the police could hold terror suspects before charging them. Blair was, for a time, extraordinarily popular, with a mandate to make significant policy changes. The fact that he inherited a recovering economy, and left office before the financial crisis of 2007-08, meant that he always operated within a favourable economic context. After he took Britain into the controversial Iraq War in 2003, however, he began to lose credibility, and by the end of his time in Downing Street there was a serious question mark over the nature of Blair’s achievement.

Question 83

How did Blair act in a more presidential style?

Answer 83

Blair placed a strong emphasis on strengthening the centre of UK government in order to lackle problems in a more ‘joined up’ manner, cutting across individual departments. Jonathan Powell, the prime minister’s chief of staff - itself a role borrowed from the US White House and denoting a more ‘presidential style - announced’a change from a feudal system of barons to a more Napoleonic system!: By this he meant that individual Cabinet ministers would have less autonomy than in the past and they would work to a much more centrally managed agenda.
The Cabinet Office and Downing Street Policy Unit worked more closely together, and from 2001 a newly created Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit sought to drive reform of the public sector.

The methods of media management pioneered in opposition by Blair’s press secretary, Alastair Campbell, were transferred to government, with the creation of a Strategic Communications Unit to respond to the 24-hour news media of the new century.
All recent prime ministers had to some extent used informal meetings with selected colleagues and advisers, rather than collective decision-making in the full Cabinet. However, under Blair this became the normal practice, with bilateral meetings with Cabinet ministers being used to review progress on the attainment of policy goals. Blair’s preference for informal meetings, bypassing established committee structures, and at which proper records were not kept, was dubbed ‘sofa government. At one level this increased the prime minister’s power to direct events.

Question 84

Example of Blair’s sofa gov

Answer 84

The most spectacular example was the way in which decisions were taken prior to the launching of the Iraq War in Márch 2003. Although Iraq featured on the Cabinet agenda, there was little genuine discussion around the table, and ministers were denied access to many key documents.

Question 85

When was Blair’s sofa gov criticised?

Answer 85

The practice was criticised in a 2004 review chaired by former Cabinet Secretary Lord Butler, which warned that the exclusion of the Cabinet from the process ‘risks reducing the scope for informed collective political judgement’.

Question 86

How did Brown limit Blair’s power?

Answer 86

There was one important individual whose presence placed a significant limitation on Blair’s power within the government. This was the chancellor throughout the Blair years, Gordon Brown. The two men had struck an informal deal in May 1994, after the sudden death of Labour leader John Smith. Brown had given Blair a clear run at the party leadership in return for the post of chancellor when they came to power. In addition, Brown believed that Blair would eventually step down, allowing him to become prime minister. When this did not happen before the end of Labour’s second term, relations between the two deteriorated. The need to keep a powerful colleague on side influenced Blair’s decision to announce that his third general election victory would be his last. The ensuing public speculation about when exactly the handover would occur reduced Blair’s authority. The difficult relationship between prime minister and chancellor also meant that Blair had to concede a significant amount of control over a number of policy areas. For example, Brown effectively denied Blair his wish to take Britain into the European single currency. He devised five economic tests that would first have to be passed, and insisted that the Treasury would determine whether they had been met.
These tensions at the topmeant that, although Blair had the advantage of a broadly united party - most Labour MPs were grateful to him for delivering three successive election victories
- there were destabilising conflicts between ‘Blairite’ and ‘Brownite’ factions.

Question 87

Blair constitutional reform achievements

Answer 87

The Blair government had a number of important policy achievements to its credit. In his first term Blair put through a range of constitutional reforms that modernised the political system without jeopardising the authority of central government. Most hereditary peers were removed from the House of Lords, ending the Conservative Party’s control of the upper house, but the more radical step of replacing an appointed chamber with an elected one was not taken. Devolution was granted to Scotland and Wales, with new representative bodies elected using proportional systems, but Blair avoided holding a referendum on electoral reform for Westminster, preferring to retain a model that delivered Labour victories.

Question 88

Blair achievements in NI

Answer 88

Blair’s most outstanding personal success was his revival of the peace process in
Northern Ireland, culminating in the creation of power-sharing institutions following the April 1998 Good Friday agreement. He showed his skills as a negotiator in finding just enough common ground to bring unionists, moderate nationalists and hard line republicans together Although trust between the rival communities broke down more than once, leading to the re-imposition of direct rule from London for five years, Blair succeeded in restoring devolved government shortly before he left office. This was due to a combination of firmness and a talent for building constructive personal relationships with key individuals on both sides of the sectarian divide.

Question 89

Public service reform success under Blair

Answer 89

Public service reform was an area close to Blair’s heart. He had some success in introducing the ideas and methods of the business sector to improve the delivery of education and health.

-Self-governing city academies, which took their funding directly from central government rather than from local authorities, began to replace failing state schools, providing a model that was developed by later governments.

-Foundation hospitals, whose managers were given additional powers and funding, were another break with the traditional Labour idea that the state should guarantee a uniform model of welfare provision.

-Some distinctively ‘Labour’ measures were introduced, including a national minimum wage, free nursery places and Sure Start centres to help families in the most deprived areas. Their overall effect was to halt the widening of the gap between rich and poor, if not to reverse it. Blair’s insistence on a socially liberal agenda, which was at least as important to him as the battle against poverty, was reflected in the introduction of civil partnerships for same sex couples.

Question 90

Public service area of contention under Blair

Answer 90

-The principle that university students should contribute to the cost of their education was established, and the level of tuition fees was hiked in 2004 in the teeth of bitter Labour backbench opposition.

Question 91

Policy problems under Blair

Answer 91

There were areas where change was frustrated. Blair himself blamed the opposition of vested interests within the public sector, talking of ‘scars on his back’, for his unsuccessful attempts to reform the way in which services were delivered. Perhaps more important was the fact that in his second term issues of national security and foreign policy diverted his attention.
Blair’s premiership reminds us that even the most driven of leaders is subject to the problem of overload. After the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 in New York and Washington, Blair showed the ability of a powerful prime minister to shape overseas policy. He committed the UK to support US President George W. Bush’s ‘war on terror’, which saw British troops engaged in lengthy campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. Unlike the first Gulf War under Major, neither operation concluded with a clear-cut result. The Iraq War in particular inflicted lasting damage on Blair’s reputation as, although the tyrant Saddam Hussein was rapidly removed, order inside the country disintegrated and allied troops faced prolonged guerrilla resistance.
Critics focused on Blair’s willingness to take the country to war on the basis of unsubstantiated claims that rag’s government possessed weapons of mass destruction. He was also blamed for his failure to formulate a plan with the US for the reconstruction of Iraq after the toppling of Saddam. He gave the impression of having surrendered his judgement in order to keep in line with the US administration. Blair’s premiership illustrates both the immense potential of the Office - to transform governmental structures and to embark on major departures in policy and its limitations. The erosion of trust that followed the Irag War severely limited Blair’s Chances of leaving a positive legacy in other areas.

Question 92

Blair overall legacy

Answer 92

Blair shaped Downing Street to place Number 10 at the centre of power, pushing forward policy initiatives and managing the government’s public image in a pro-active way. He pursued a modernising agenda in both constitutional reform and the delivery of public services, achieving notable success in bringing about a peace settlement in Northern Ireland. His authority was enhanced by three consecutive general election victories but undermined by the persistent tensions with his ambitious chancellor, Gordon Brown. Blair’s decision to take the UK to war in Iraq, on questionable grounds, reduced levels of trust in him. His pursuit of the ‘war on terror’ alienated core support and diverted him from a focus on domestic reform.