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Politics Paper 2 > 3.3 PM and Cabinet > Flashcards

3.3 PM and Cabinet Flashcards

1
Q

5

Describe cabinet processes

A
  • meets weekly, though can be summoned in crisis i.e. COBRA (e.g. military action against Houthis rebels)
  • PM chairs cabinet, sets agenda and summarises
  • PM approves cabinet secretary’s minutes
  • Votes rarely taken - though can be intensive disagreement
  • Support of decisions made in cabinet ensured by CMR
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2
Q

5

Describe the functions of the cabinet

A
  • Provides key forum in which government policies are legitimised
  • Determine key issues of important policy
  • Discuss how legislation should be introduced to Parliament
  • Can resolve dispute between two departments of cabinet
  • PMs appoint cabinet committees to develop and implement specific policies
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3
Q

3

How does the cabinet provide a forum for legitimisation

A
  • Several decisions have to be taken elsewhere in the executive
  • Cabinet can approve decisions and legitimise them as government policy
  • Maintains unity of government
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4
Q

1

Describe Chequers (2018)

A

2018, May summoned cabinet to Chequers to determine government’s the bargaining poisition in the final stage of EU withdrawal negotiations

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5
Q

3

Describe the function of cabinet deciding on parliamentary business

A
  • Decide how controversial legislation should be best introduced and presented to Parliament
  • Cheif Whip makes assessment on likelihood of government majority
  • Cabinet may debate concessiosn that may be needed to achieve parliamentary support
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6
Q

2

Describe how the cabinet resolves disputes between departments

A
  • Acts as final court of appeal
  • Particularly significant during coalition years
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7
Q

5

List factors that govern the selection of cabinet members

A
  • Appealing to party factions
  • Experience
  • include ‘Big Beasts’
  • appointiment of loyalists
  • electoral strategy of PM
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8
Q

4

Describe how the PM aims to appeal to different party factions when selecting cabinet members

A
  • Prevents alienation of certain groups whose support is necessary to maintain legislative support for govenrment policy
  • Party unity important when specific issue has divided incumbent party - May evenly balanced cabinet members between Leave and Remain
  • Sunak placed Coffey at Environment to appeal to Trussites
  • Truss’s exclusion of several Sunak supporters alienated moderate factions of Conservative Party (e.g. led to criticism by Gove)
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9
Q

3

Describe how the PM includes experience when appointing cabinet ministers

A
  • Establishes professionalism of capable government
  • Policy development and implementation and contributions to cabinet ensure robustness of cabinet and wider government
  • Sunak appointed David Cameron to FS in time of rising conflict
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10
Q

5

Describe how the PM includes ‘big beasts’ in cabinet

A
  • PM under significant pressure to include influential and dominant personalities in cabinet
  • Binds potential rivals to CMR so they cannot publically criticise government - though limited
  • May cultivate loyalty to their premiership
  • May appointed Boris at prestigious role of FS to bind him to CMR on Brexit to mitigate opposition against her leadership
  • Places them in difficult briefs e.g. Hancock placed at health by Boris
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11
Q

3

Describe how the PM appoints loyalists to cabinet

A
  • Advances key allies to senior positions so they have unwavering support from dominant figures during crisis
  • Can reward past loyalty to leadership campaigns
  • Ben Wallace led Boris’ campaign in 2019 and was subsequently granted the defence brief
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12
Q

4

Describe how electoral strategy affects the selection of cabinet members

A
  • Significant media interest in cabinet reshuffles
  • Government can use this to shape political message
  • Claire Countinho (Energy Sec) - youthfulness and ‘change candidate’
  • David Cameron (FS) - continuity and technocracy
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13
Q

6

List the factors that affect the relationship between the PM and cabinet

A
  • Extent of cabinet unity (largely dependent on confidence in PM)
  • PM’s individual style of governance
  • Experience of cabinet members
  • National circumstances
  • Parliamentary majority
  • Coalition
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14
Q

Describe how the extent of cabinet unity affects the relationship between the PM and cabinet

A
  • Prescence of number of big beasts in cabinet may weaken authority
  • PM subsequently less willing to rely on cabinet
  • May Government included Boris, David Davis, Liam Fox, Andrea Leadsom
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15
Q

2

Describe how the experience of ministers affects the relationship between the PM and cabinet

A
  • Cabinet of trusted and experienced ministers may enjoy more individual freedom than inexperienced ones
  • Rishi Sunak, whose stature was developed by furlough rollout, masterminded Eat Out to Help Out scheme
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16
Q

4

Describe how national circumstances affect the relationship between the PM and cabinet

A
  • showing unity in cabinet ensures strong government needed to respond to crises
  • Cabinet provided support to Gordon Brown/Alistair Darling GFC response
  • However lack of urgency may drive division
  • documented disagreements between Hancock and Boris over timing of lockdown measures
17
Q

3

Describe how a parliamentary majority affect the relationship between the PM and cabinet

A
  • PMs need to consult widely to maintain party unity if parliamentary majority low - cannot afford resignations and opposition of ‘big beasts’
  • Large parliamentary majority leads to more fervent loyalty to PM (e.g. Blair)
  • Yet PMs often allow contentious issues to be debated in cabinet to maintain survival of government
18
Q

2

List examples where a large parliamentary majority has affected the relationship between the PM and cabinet

A
  • Blair’s landslide victories led to use of ‘spatial leadership’ rather than consultation of cabinet, who became yes men - role of cabinet ministers reduced to reporting decisions made elsewhere
  • Yet in 2021, Boris allowed free cabinet discussion over case for new restrictions on Omicron variant with opposing views propsoed by Javid (Health) and Sunak (CX)
19
Q

2

List examples where a weak parliamentary majority has affected the relationship between the PM and cabinet

A
  • Coalition meant that 5/22 Cabinet posts were LD and Cameron has less control over these ministers
  • Yet May overided cabinet preference for no-deal brexit in favour of talks with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn despite majority cabinet opposition
20
Q

4

Describe the expansion of spatial leadership under Blair

A
  • Increasing reliance on SPADs to design policy
  • Blair created chief of staff role to coordinate government policy
  • Blair established PM’s Strategy Unit and Delivery Unit to set department targets and monitor performance, challenging authority of cabinet ministers
  • these units were abolished by Cameron (though he strengthened Implementation Unit to ensure more coordinated response)
21
Q

2

Describe the expansion of spatial leadership under Boris

A
  • Demanded that cabinet members’ political advisors were approved by No 10, prompting Javid resignation
  • Cabinet office given enhanced powers to supervise departmental work
22
Q

3

Describe the argument that the Cabinet is important

A
  • Prevents PM dominance of executive vs PM uses RP to dictate membership (appoints yes-men loyalists)
  • Influential in the formulation of policy vs reliance on cabinet committees/big beasts
  • Resolves internal government disputes through CMR vs PMs use SPADS to make key decisions

RP = royal prerogative

23
Q

4

Describe how the Cabinet prevents the dominance of the PM in the executive

A
  • PM requires support of cabinet in policy decisions to maintain survival of government
  • Cabinet munity can force resignation of PM e.g. Boris Johnson (clearest example of cabinet government)
  • Can force change in government direction without mandate granted at GE (e.g. Boris to Truss)
  • limit - May/Corbyn brexit talks
24
Q

3 (2 pro, 1 con)

Describe the influence of the cabinet in affecting policy

A
  • Reflects views of whole party rather than singular PM
  • Maintains unity in HoC as cheif whip informs cabinet of likelihood of legislative success
  • Limited by use of smaller teams, notably the ‘quad’
25
Q

4

Describe the impact of the cabinet resolving policy disputes

A
  • Provides avenue for debates to be settled amongst experienced politicians who have knowledge of policy implications, legislative success, etc
  • Binded by CMR, allowing government to act as united front (important for national crises)
  • On particular issue, PM may lack expertise to make informed decisions themselves
  • Contentious issue requires consultation of whole cabinet to maintain loyalty e.g. Omicron restrictions debate
26
Q

Describe the impact of SPADs on the Cabinet’s importance

A
  • have constant access to PM as opposed to weekly cabinet
  • therefore PM’s chief of staff and head of policy more important in deciding policy than cabinet members
  • loyalty of SPADs negates destructive impact of CMR being broken (though SPADs are mostly background figures)
27
Q

2

Describe 2 examples of the influence of SPADs

A
  • Boris allowed Cummings to dictate key strategy on brexit e.g. proroguing Parliament
  • May called snap election without consultation of cabinet (had not been informed) - decision made by Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill
28
Q

4

Describe the argument that the UK has seen a return to cabinet government since 2010

A
  • Cameron led coalition government vs Cameron able to implement austerity against weak LDs
  • ‘big beasts’ in cabinet (Hunt) vs use of quad/Truss-Kwarteng-Clarke designed mini-budget
  • May loss of majority granted influence to cabinet vs May personally dictated brexit strategy
  • Divisions in conservative party have granted influence to cabinet (Rwanda strategy) vs use of SPADs
29
Q

6

Describe Thatcher’s ability to determine policy

In exam, use history knowkedge

A
  • Reliance on SPADs post-Falklands and miner’s strike - Alan Walters (Cheif Economic Advisor) leading to poll tax, etc
  • Radical monetarism reforms in face of 3/4 cabinet being ‘wet’ e.g. 1981 budget
  • Abolition of metropolitan councils
  • Privatisation despite external opposition (e.g. from Macmillan)
  • Trade Union, education, council house reform
  • Government legislation failed only once
30
Q

5

Describe Thatcher’s inability to determine policy

A
  • Limited until psot-1983 election e.g. Trade Union Act 1984
  • 1981, Thatcher allowed extensive cabinet debate on Howe’s controversial VAT-raising budget - forced to make certain concessions
  • Lawson resigned in 1989 due to reliance on Alan Walters
  • Eurosceptic policies and rhetoric failed - led to leadership challenge and acceptance of pro-market policies (e.g. social charter)
  • Failure of Shops Act 1986
31
Q

3

Describe Thatcher’s ability to dictate events

A
  • Victory in Falklands without formal parliamentary vote (used RP)
  • Quickly recovered post-Westland Affair
  • Patronage used in 1983 cabinet resuffle to accomodate more dries and demote wets - support of miners’ strike response
32
Q

3

Describe Thatcher’s inability to dictate events

A
  • 1982, called extensive emergency cabinet meeting to debate Falklands response (compared to Blair who sidelined cabinet in Iraq discussions)
  • Forced to include more ON members in first cabinet - Heseltine led opposition within cabinet
  • Cabinet rebellion and Howe resignation led to end of premiership
33
Q

5

Describe Blair’s ability to determine policy

A
  • Successive parliamentary majorities (179 and 167 respectively) led to no defeats on government legislation, even on contentious legislation (Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 allowed indefinite detention)
  • Blair and Brown jointly decided to grant BoE independence on monetary policy to allow for economic stability withut cabinet consultation (‘they’ll agree’)
  • Ignored significant cabinet opposition to construction of Millennium Dome
  • Constitutional reform - devolution, HRA, HoL reform
  • Reliance on SPADs (Jonathan Powell Cheif of Staff; Campbell press secretary)
34
Q

4

Describe Blair’s inability to determine policy

A
  • Brown given control of economic policy - roadblocked Blair’s wishes to join European Single Currency as had failed ‘five tests’ for British membership
  • 2005, defeated on amendment to Terrorism Act 2005 to extend detention to 90 days
  • Brown increasingly looked to as alternative leader post-2005
  • Forced to announce freeze in fuel duties following protests in 2000
35
Q

Describe Blair’s ability to dictate events

A
  • Did not consult cabinet on advisability of Iraq War in 2003
  • Succeeded in acheving GFA where predecessors failed
  • Used RP to commence military action in Iraq (1998), Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan
36
Q

2

Describe Blair’s inability to dictate events

A
  • Held parliamentary vote to legitimise Iraq War decision - though won by 412:149 margin due to huge majority
  • Blair forced to announce resignation in 2006, earlier than he had hoped, due to internal opposition following the 2005 election where Labour only won 35% of the popular vote and the rising support of the youthful David Cameron
37
Q

2

How did Blair manage the cabinet

A
  • Blair kept whole cabinet meetings short - legitimise decisions made elsewhere
  • used bilateral meetings and ‘sofa govenrment’ (key advisers) to make key decisions
38
Q

2

Describe internal party opposition to Blair and Thatcher

A
  • Thatcher - Heseltine and ‘wets’
  • Blair - Brownites (e.g. Ed Balls)
39
Q

3

What budget did the ‘quad’ almost entirely determine the contents of?

A
  • 2012 Spring Budget
  • Included controversial measure to cut additional rate of income tax from 50% to 45%
  • Vince Cable claimed this would have not been his priority - break with CMR

Politics Paper 2 (21 decks)

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