7.3 - The Prime Minister and the Cabinet Flashcards

1
Q

How many people are in the cabinet?

A

20 to 25.

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2
Q

How often does the cabinet meet?

A

Usually, once a week on Thursday morning for no more than 2 hours.

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3
Q

Who sets the agenda, chairs and approves minutes of the cabinet meeting?

A

The PM.

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4
Q

What important roles do cabinet play?

A
  • Many decisions are taken elsewhere in the executive, so cabinet approves them.
  • Cabinet determines key issues of policy.
  • Decides how the government will determine business.
  • If an dispute between two departments of state is impossible to resolve, the issue can be brought to cabinet as a final court of appeal.
  • Cabinet committees develop and implement specific policy.
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5
Q

Why is the PM under pressure to appoint influential colleagues into their cabinet?

A

It would be politically impossible to leave out ‘heavy-hitters’ from your cabinet.

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6
Q

Why does the PM promote key supporters to cabinet posts?

A

They can rely on their unwavering (hmm…) support during disputes and crises.

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7
Q

Why is it advantageous to appoint potential rivals into government?

A
  • They are bound by collective ministerial responsibility and so cannot criticise the government.
  • The appointment might actually cultivate their loyalty.
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8
Q

Why do PM’s appoint members of their party who have different views to them? (be it socially, economically, politically etc.)

A

A balance of cabinet is necessary to prevent alienation of certain sections of the party.

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9
Q

How have cabinets become more balanced since Theresa May?

A
  • She wanted a cabinet that ‘looks like the country it serves’.
  • She advanced many females and minorities to further this goal.
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10
Q

What is a cabinet government?

A

A type of administration in which the cabinet always plays a key role in the development of policy.

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11
Q

What is a prime-ministerial government?

A

A type of administration in which the PM is the dominant force in decision making, with the cabinet being relegated to a subordinate decision-making role.

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12
Q

Why are there disagreements over the influence of cabinet?

A
  • According to the English Constitution, the ‘cabinet is the most powerful body in the state’ and the PM is first among equals.
  • According to others, the large size of the cabinet precludes constructive debate.
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13
Q

Why is there a claim that the UK has shifted towards a prime-ministerial government rather than a cabinet government?

A

The PM is treated so presidentially by the media, so they have already decided the focus and direction of their government without needing to talk it through cabinet.

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14
Q

Who developed the policy unit in Downing Street?

A

Harold Wilson.

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15
Q

Why was the policy unit developed in Downing Street?

A

To provide Wilson with his own support and advice in developing political strategy.

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16
Q

Why was the position of Chief of Staff created?

A

To co-ordinate governmental policy.

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17
Q

How did Powell describe his appointment as Chief of Staff?

A
  • Under Blair, Powell was appointed as Chief of Staff.
  • He described his appointment as demonstrating a ‘change from a feudal system of barons to a more Napoleonic system’.
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18
Q

Why was the PMs Strategy Unit and PMs Delivery Unit established?

A

To set department targets and monitor the performance of cabinet ministers.

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19
Q

Why were the Strategy Unit and Delivery Unit abolished?

A

Cameron abolished them over fears of too much micro-management.

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20
Q

Why was the Press Office created at Downing Street?

A

To ensure that Downing Street had more control over how stories were presented and responded to.

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21
Q

Why is it still wrong to dismiss the powers of cabinet?

A
  • It is still the most powerful and influential members of a political party.
  • The PM would be unwise to ignore their political expertise and experience.
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22
Q

Why does the power of cabinet change?

A

The powers are mostly dependent on the personality of the PM and / or political circumstances.

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23
Q

Does the cabinet play a central role in British government? (Yes)

A
  • A PM will need to discuss options with cabinet during a politial crises.
  • Relying on the cabinet should reduce a PM’s reliance on the Commons.
  • If a controversial issue is to be resolved, cabinet agreement is vital to ensure that the government is united.
  • On certain occasions, cabinet can challenge the authority of the PM.
  • Cabinet’s can elect to not support the PM during a leadership challenge.
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24
Q

Does the cabinet play a central role in British government? (No)

A
  • If the PM has a clear political agenda, then the cabinet will be reduced to a subordinate decision making agenda.
  • Some PM’s choose to make decisions with key advisors rather than the whole government.
  • The PM can push issues through cabinet if they are certain they will work. (Margaret Thatcher Poll Tax)
  • Certain PM’s discourage cabinet discussion, preferring to have already made decisions prior to the cabinet meeting. (Tony Blair ‘sofa government’)
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25
Q

Give two examples of how PMs can approach cabinet?

A

The IMF loan 1976
The Westland affair 1986

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26
Q

What was the IMF loan?

A

In 1976, the Labour government was in turmoil over whether to accept IMF loans with demands for massive cuts in public spending.

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27
Q

Why did the IMF loan serve as an example of how to approach cabinet?

A

The PM, Jim Callaghan allowed cabinet to fully debate the issue.

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28
Q

What was the Westland Affair?

A

The Department of State for Trade and Industry and the Department of Defence clashed over whether a Westland Helicopters (British firm) should be taken over by an American or European bid.

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29
Q

Why did the Westland Affair serve as an example of how cabinets could be approached?

A

Defence secretary, Michael Heseltine complained that Thatcher’s obvious bias towards American business undermined genuine cabinet debate.

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30
Q

Give an example of the PM being the dominant force in politics?

A

Harold Macmillan sacking a third of his cabinet.

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31
Q

How did Macmillan’s mass sacking change his power?

A
  • It gave the impression that he had lost his political touch and was in panic.
  • The press changed his nickname from ‘Supermac’ to ‘Mac the Knife’
  • This was followed by the Profumo scandal which started as a typical Tory sleaze case but quickly turned to a case of national security.
  • His reputation never recovered and he resigned office in October 1963.
  • The PM was the dominant force, but the media and other cabient members fought back.
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32
Q

What was Edward Heath’s main achievement in office?

A

Negotiating the UK’s entry into the EEC in 1973.

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33
Q

How was Heath’s authority challenged while in office?

A
  • Miners’ strikes in both 1972 and 1974 threatening the nation’s energy supplies.
  • Dramatic rise in the price of oil causing mass global inflation, undermining the government’s economic strategy.
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34
Q

How did Callaghan challenge the postwar economic consensus?

A

In the 1976 Labour Party Conference, he said:

‘The cosy world we were told would go on forever, where full employment would be guaranteed by a stroke of the Chancellor’s pen, cutting taxes, defecit spending; that cosy world is gone.’

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35
Q

Why was Callaghan’s speech at the 1976 Labour Party conference interesting?

A

It was a sudden and dramatic change in government policy from high spending to deflationary measures.

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36
Q

Did Callaghan’s commitment to deflation prove to be successful?

A

Yes, at the beginning of his tenure.

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37
Q

Why did the 1979 General Election come at such a bad time for Labour?

A
  • He had been abandoned by Liberal and nationalist parties.
  • Just after the Winter of Discontent.
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38
Q

How did John Major immediately change the dynamic of the Conservative government?

A
  • Removal of the poll tax.
  • Opted out of the social chapter in the Maastricht Treaty.
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39
Q

How much of a majority did Major achieve in 1992?

A

21.

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40
Q

Why did Major’s small majority cause problems?

A

It allowed eurosceptic Tory MPs the opportunity to disrupt the party.

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41
Q

How did Major try and remove the divisions within the Conservative party?

A
  • He resigned leadership of the Conservative party and told eurosceptic critics to either ‘put up or shut up’.
  • He won the ensuing leadership ballot by 218 to 89.
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42
Q

How did Major’s solution to euroscepticism in the Tory party backfire?

A

His opponent won 89 votes from MPs which only further exposed divisions in the party and highlighted his declining power as PM.

43
Q

How did Major’s authority further decline after trying to solve the Eurosceptic problem?

A
  • Constant media criticism.
  • Ministerial sleaze.
  • Tony Blair’s combative leadership of the Labour party.
44
Q

Did Cameron’s austerity programme work?

A

Yes.

Major cuts were given to public expenditure.

45
Q

How did Cameron use his authority during his tenure?

A

Supporting same-sex marriage.
Trying to support remain in the EU referendum.

46
Q

How was Cameron’s authority curtailed during his first tenure as PM?

A
  • He was forced to allow a referendum on electoral reform in 2011.
  • Could not reform parliamentary boundaries after the Lib Dems withdrew support.
  • Could not persuade Parliament to support bombing President Assad in 2013.
47
Q

Why was Cameron’s authority curtailed during his first tenure?

A

He was part of a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

48
Q

How did Cameron keep the Conservative party united going into the 2015 General Election?

A

Promise for a referendum on EU membership.

49
Q

Did coalition government strengthen Cameron’s power as PM? (Yes)

A
  • Cameron was given a stable government.
  • Cameron still fulfilled most of his manifesto commitments.
  • Collective ministerial responsibility still applied to the coalition.
  • The coalition lasted for the full term (helped by the Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011)
50
Q

Did coalition government strengthen Cameron’s power as PM? (No)

A
  • Cameron was forced to give cabinet positions to five Lib Dems.
  • Cameron had to agree to a referendum on AV.
  • The Lords suspended the Salisbury Convention so that it could oppose measures in the governing parties’ manifestos.
  • The Quad was established in which core policies had to be agreed by Cameron, Osborne, Clegg and Alexander (Chief Secretary to the Cabinet [Liberal Democrat])
51
Q

Why have some political commentators argued that the PM is becoming more presidential?

A
  • PM’s are increasingly dominant in cabinet.
  • The media is more obsessed with their characters.
52
Q

Where can presidentialism in British politics be traced back to?

A

1960s, Harold Wilson.

He used TV to reach out to the public, regularly took pictures with celebrities such as the Beatles and the cast of Coronation Street.

53
Q

What did Michael Foley link the presidential model to?

A

‘Spatial Leadership’

54
Q

What is ‘spatial leadership’?

A

The PM creates their own space by distancing themselves from the party to secure a personal mandate directly from the public like the President does.

55
Q

Why has the development of the media allowed more presidential PMs?

A

The media has an appetite for celebrity news and enthusiastic coverage of personal intervention in global crises.

56
Q

Which PMs have had presidential tendencies?

A

Harold Wilson, Thatcher and Blair.

57
Q

Who did the media focus on during the Falklands War and Miners’ Strike?

A

The PM, Thatcher.

58
Q

Why was the personal rhetoric of Blair effective?

A
  • It emphasised his moral focus, developing his personality with the public above less ideologically driven politicians.
  • ‘the people entrusted me with the task of leading their country’
    ‘this is the Britain I offer you’
59
Q

How did Blair’s personal intervention improve Northern Ireland?

A

His interventions were always very high-profile to drive forward the NI peace process.

60
Q

How did Blair reach beyond Parliament prior to the invasion of Iraq?

A

He put the case for war directly to the public through television and debate, reaching beyond Parliament to the people.

61
Q

What happens to cabinet under the Presidential model?

A

The cabinet becomes more irrelevant as the PM can afford to ignore cabinet because they have their own popular mandate directly from the people.

62
Q

How did Blair enhance the presidential atmosphere of Downing Street?

A
  • Chief of Staff created.
  • PMs Private Office and Cabinet Office were enlarged to provide greater control from the centre.
63
Q

How did Cameron use the media to associate decisions with himself rather than government?

A
  • He associated his personal authority with gay marriage.
  • 2014 Scottish Indy Ref
  • 2016 Brexit Ref
64
Q

How have party leaders seen the spotlight more in recent times?

A

The 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2019 elections all had televised debates.

(More presidential)

65
Q

What principle is the government based on?

A

Collective ministerial responsibility.

66
Q

Why does a British PM not possess an electoral mandate from the public?

A

They are indirectly elected.

67
Q

What determines the power of the PM?

A

A parliamentary majority and support of their party.

68
Q

Why have PMs resigned in the past?

A
  • James Callaghan was forced to call a general election when he lost a vote of no confidence.
  • Thatcher resigned after she lost support of her cabinet.
69
Q

What PMs have been unable to present presidential qualities?

A
  • John Major in 1992.
  • Gordon Brown in 2008.
  • Theresa May in 2016.
70
Q

Why was John Major unable to present as a presidential figure?

A

He had a collegiate approach to politics and his party became split over the issue of EU membership.

71
Q

Why was Gordon Brown unable to present a presidential demeanor?

A

He was uncharismatic and was ruthlessly mocked for this reason by the press.

72
Q

Why was Theresa May unable to present a presidential demeanor?

A

She was unable to engage with the public in 2017 and lost her parliamentary majority.

73
Q

Why should PMs be careful to act too presidentially?

A

It is likely to antagonise the Commons, from where they derive political power.

74
Q

What are the main consitutional differences between Presidents and PMs?

A
  • PMs are not directly elected, whereas presidents are.
  • PM is accountable for legislature, presidents are not.
  • PM is not head of state, president is.
  • PM works closely with cabinet, whereas president does not.
75
Q

Who helped Wilson make most of his decisions?

A

The ‘kitchen’ cabinet of trusted advisors.

76
Q

What did Short describe Wilson’s cabinet as?

A

The ‘doodling’ cabinet because so little of importance was discussed.

77
Q

How was Wilson’s presidential PMship undermined?

A
  • The white paper to introduce legal restrictions on trade union power led to a row within cabinet with Home Secretary James Callaghan forcing Wilson into a climb-down.
  • Promise of a referendum on EEC membership divided the Labour party, so he had to allow a free vote by cabinet.
78
Q

Why was Thatcher forced to thoroughly disucss policy with cabinet?

A

She had to balance support from those who were associated with Heath and more one-nation elements of the party.

79
Q

How did Thatcher initially use cabinet?

A
  • Allowed extensive cabinet debate over Geoffrey Howe’s tax raising budget.
  • After the Argentine invasion of the Falklands, Thatcher called an emergency meeting of cabinet.
80
Q

When did Thatcher begin to operate in a more presidential manner?

A

After the Falklands War and miner success.

81
Q

Why did Heseltine resign as defence secretary?

A

During the Westland crisis, he felt he was no longer being listened to.

82
Q

How did Thatcher choose to make decisions towards the end of her tenure?

A

She made decisions with a small group of key advisers who shared her political opinions.

83
Q

Why did the failure to consult cabinet prove to be Thatcher’s downfall?

A
  • Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson, resigned because he felt Thatcher listened to her special economics adviser, Alan Walters, more than him.
  • After this high profile resignation, her authority was significantly undermined.
84
Q

Why did Eurosceptisism from Thatcher harm her position in the Conservative party?

A
  • Her speeches became more eurosceptic which was at odds with most of her cabinet.
  • Deputy PM, Geoffrey Howe resigned as a result.
85
Q

Why did Thatcher not survive once Heseltine had enough votes to challenge her for leadership?

A

She needed the support of cabinet, but because she had taken then for granted, the cabinet told her she should resign because she would lose.

86
Q

What did Thatcher say about her cabinet (betrayal)?

A

’..treachery with a smile.’

87
Q

Why did Blair have a massive personal mandate to implement change?

A

His initial parliamentary majority of 179.

88
Q

Why did Blair’s rapport with the British people allow him to ignore cabinet?

A

He reached beyond traditional party loyalties, persuading him that cabinet was insignificant.

89
Q

How was Blair’s government been described?

A

A ‘command prime-ministership’

90
Q

How was the cabinet completely ignored during Blair’s first term?

A

They found out about decisions that had already been made in the PM’s private office.

91
Q

What was Blair’s first big non-cabinet decision?

A

Both him and Gordon Brown (CotE) agreed to give interest-raising powers to the Bank of England.

92
Q

Why was giving interest raising powers to the Bank of England an important decision?

A

It, in theory, encouraged economic stability by preventing government from manipulating interest rates to its advantage.

93
Q

What proved the biggest mistake of Blair’s tenure as PM?

A

The Iraq War.

He did not consult cabinet, and those that did accept it, did so as a fait accompli.

94
Q

Where did Blair’s cabinet dominance come into a roadblock?

A

Part of the deal that ensured Brown did not run against Blair agreed that Brown would have full control of the British economy.

95
Q

Where did Brown and Blair disagree consistently over economic policy?

A

Blair wanted to join the European single currency, but Brown consistently roadblocked this.

96
Q

What reasons led to Blair’s resignation?

A
  • Legalities over the Iraq War.
  • Political fallout of the 2005 GE where the Labour party won only 35.2% of the popular vote.
97
Q

Why did the Labour party want to move away from Blair?

A

He had become an electoral liability, with cabinet looking to Brown to provide government with a new dynamic to challenge a youthful David Cameron.

98
Q

Why was Theresa May expected to provide firm leadership?

A
  • She had survived 6 years as home secretary.
  • She had 61% support from the Parliamentary Conservative party.
  • She had a clear vision of what she wanted to achieve in her first speech.
  • Corbyn’s awful approval ratings.
99
Q

How did May immediately stamp her authority over cabinet?

A

She ruthlessly reshuffled cabinet.

Osborne out as CotE, Hammond in.
Amber Rudd as Home Secretary.

100
Q

How did Theresa May throw her personal prestige around?

A
  • Reintroduction of grammar schools.
  • Free vote on fox hunting.
  • Repealing the HRA for British Bill of Rights.
101
Q

How did Theresa May interact with cabinet prior to calling a snap general election?

A

She did not.

She spoke with joint chiefs of staff, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill.

102
Q

How was the Conservative manifesto written during the snap general election of Theresa May?

A

From Downing Street, with no input from cabinet.

103
Q

How was May’s authority dramatically undermined?

A

Her poor campaigning was personally associated with the government’s loss of her parliamentary majority.

104
Q

What happened to May’s ambitious policies as a result of losing her parliamentary majority?

A

They almost all had to be scrapped as the government had to focus all of its energy on achieving Brexit.