CMR AND IMR Flashcards
CMR isn’t important
P- It’s a convention that is included in the Ministerial Code and applies to all ministers. Means that gov as a whole is responsible to Parliament for its decisions.
Holds ministers can privately disagree in cabinet meetings, but ministers must support and defend all of the government’s policies in public and in the media, even if they personally/privately disagree with them.
minister must resign from gov before publicly criticising gov policy. If criticises gov policy w/o resign, then PM should force them to resign.
E- When Foreign Secretary in May’s, Johnson leaked dissatisfaction with gov policy many times + briefed against Theresa May, including writing critical weekly articles in Daily Telegraph.
Due to his popularity within Conservative Party, particularly with Brexiteers, and May’s weakness as a Prime Minister, she wasn’t able to sack him. This shows how CMR was limited in importance under May, as fact she was weak PM presiding over ideologically divided party meant couldn’t enforce it.
Counter
P- Can be argued that CMR is important the vast majority of the time, especially when PM are stronger. Ministers very rarely speak out against gov in public even if disagree with gov policy. They are therefore bound by collective responsibility.
CMR’s effective in allowing PM to use powers of patronage to control their party and gov + maintaining government unity publicly
For - IMR no relation to personal conduct remains important
P- One key aspect of convention of IMR and most common cause of resignations on the grounds of MR relates to personal conduct and professionalism of ministers. If their personal conduct falls below what is expected of them, they are expected to offer their resignation.
E- 2025 February Andrew Gwynne, Labour health minister + MP fired + lost Labour whip following emergence of offensive messages he wrote.
-he hoped a pensioner who didn’t vote Labour would die, called a voter a hag and insulted his fellow MPs.
Gov determined to uphold high standards for those in public office + WhatsApp messages were unacceptable.
Clear example of IMR as his behaviour violates the ministerial code. More important under Starmer.
Counter
P- can argue IMR is unimportant as dependent on PM. When a Prime Minister has low standards of personal conduct, themselves, IMR is therefore unimportant.
This can be seen in particular under Boris Johnson. In 2022, the ‘Partygate’ scandal broke out in the media, revealing many parties in Number 10 during COVID lockdowns that broke gov own laws + guidance. Boris and other key ministers attended, whilst Johnson specifically knowingly misled Parliament about the parties. Despite this, Johnson didn’t resign.
He also revised the Ministerial Code in May 2022 to weaken rules on IMR that ministers who breach the Ministerial Code are no longer expected to resign, but to publicly apologise and/or accept a reduction in their pay.
A- This shows that IMR in relation to personal conduct and responsibility for departmental failure was very unimportant and had broken down under Boris Johnson’s government.
Another example of IMR in relation to personal conduct is in relation to Priti Patel. In 2020, an independent investigation concluded that then Home Secretary Priti Patel bullied civil servants, yet she failed to resign + PM Johnson failed to force her to resign.
In part due to the fact that she was a ‘big beast’ with a lot of political power and was very popular with the right wing of the Conservative Party due to her strong stance
IMR: responsibilty for department remains important
P- ministers are expected to accept responsibility for failures / criticism of department. If any key failures/ unable to effectively run it then expect to resign.l
Holds that ministers obliged to give accurate info to Parliament and resign to PM if knowingly mislead.
E- April 2028, Amber Rudd resigned as Home Secretary after inadvertently misleading the HA SC. She was supposedly unaware of deportation removal targets within the department , despite evidence showing she had documents that said exactly that.
CMR remains important as
P- Collective ministerial responsibility is a key constitutional convention that ensures government ministers publicly support cabinet decisions. Failure to do so can lead to resignation.
E- Nov 2023, Sunak sacked Suella Braverman as Home Secretary following controversial opinion piece in the times about Met police’s handling of pro- Palestinian protests, accusing police of “playing favourites” and describing protestors as ‘hate marchers’
Her piece was published w/o being reviewed and approved by Downing Street; violating ministerial code.
A-Her statements seen as challenge to sunaks authority and were criticised by Conservative Party.
L-• This can be seen as an example of collective ministerial responsibility being enforced, asBraverman was sacked for breaching the convention that ministers must publicly support government decisions.
CMR doesn’t remain important as
P- The enforcement of CMR is not always consistent and can be influenced by political and public pressures
Because she had previously made many controversial comments, including that “multiculturalism has failed” grooming gangs were “almost all British-Pakistani” and homelessness was a “lifestyle choice” that weren’t directly aligned with government messaging, without being sacked.
Therefore, Sunak’s eventual decision to sack Braverman can be argued to be as a consequence of growing public and media pressure rather than the ministerial code being enforced.
Judgement
Overall, the conventions of IMR and CMR both depend on PM to enforce them, who often decides based on the level of media backlash they would receive if they failed to sack a minister who had broken the Ministerial Code. Both conventions are therefore weak and relatively unimportant
