Exec and Cabinet Flashcards
(35 cards)
Prerogative powers of the PM (executive) (8)
- Making and ratifying treaties
- Commander in chief (now convention to have Parliamentary vote but may be broken e.g. May 2018)
- Patronage and appointments
- Granting pardons
e.g. Alan Turing 2013 - Setting the legislative agenda
- Organise the civil service
- Recommend the dissolution of Parliament
- International diplomacy e.g. William Hauge recognising South Sudan 2011
Other powers of the PM (3)
- Chairing cabinet
- Calling a general election and recalling Parliament
- Crisis/national leadership
Sources of the PMs power
- Royal prerogative
- Party
- Parliament
- Patronage
- The electorate
- Institutional support
What are executive agencies?
Semi-independent bodies that carry out some of the functions of government departments e.g. DVLA
Main functions of the executive (4)
- Making policy decisions (both domestic and foreign)
- Proposing legislation
- Proposing a budget
- Crisis management
Role of the PM (7)
- Direction of government
- Political and party leadership
- Appointments
- Chairing cabinet
- Answering PMQs
- Communicating the govts message
- Representing the country
Henry VIII Powers
Allows the govt to change or repeal an act of Parliament without having to go through Parliament again
E.g. EU Withdrawal Bill was proposed with a Henry VIII clause to enable future “deficiencies arising from withdrawal” to be addressed using secondary legislation without having to go through Parliament again
Cabinet under Blair
- ‘sofa government’
- favouring ‘bilateral’ one-to-one meetings with Cabinet members
- Concerns about leaks e.g. Blair did not discuss/consult his Cabinet on Iraq
- Used Cabinet meetings to announce policy rather than to discuss them
- Very reliant on SPADs
Cabinet under Cameron
- ‘Quad’ Cabinets during the coalition 2 Cons and 2 Lib Dems
- kept minutes of the meetings
- worked to resolve differences between full meetings
- more freedom to ministers
- retained SPADs
- However occasionally he stepped in e.g. when the Environment Sec wanted to sell off 258000 acers of public woodland in 2011
Cabinet under May
- reliant on Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill (chiefs of staff)
- they controlled how much input cabinet members had on policy and the access they got to May
Factors determining PMs powers (10)
- Media image
- Party cohesion
- Popularity
- Leadership style
- Power of backbenchers
- Government type
- Size of majority
- Saliency of issues
- Coattails (loyalty)
- Mandate
Why has the role of the PM changed?
- Increasingly presidential more focus in the media
- Increasingly leading rather than a first amongst equals with Cabinet
- Elections are increasingly PM v Opposition
- Increasingly high reliance on SPADs
Factors influencing ministerial selections
- Political balance
- Loyalty/rewarding allies
- Appeasing opponents
- Descriptive representation
- Coalition negotiations
Good Cabinet appointment examples
- John Reid (Blair) - Health Sec, quit smoking and drinking, gave GPs a 22% pay rise, campaigned for smoking ban
- Ben Wallace (Johnson) - Defence Sec, had army expertise, oversaw Kabul evac
- Jeremy Hunt (Truss, Sunak) - Chancellor, loyalty sought help from 4 economic advisors refused to run for P<
Collective ministerial responsibility definition
Individual ministerial responsibility definition
Collective ministerial responsibility examples
Robin Cook 2003 - unhappy with Iraq war
Rory Stewart 2019 - protesting Brexit policy
Sajid Javid 2020 - refusing to dismiss his advisor
Johnson Cabinet 2022 - 6 Cabinet members incl. Javid and Sunak resigned to show no-faith in the administration following a series of scandals and handling of allegations about Chris Pincher
Individual ministerial responsibility examples
Peter Mandelson 2001 - influencing passport applications, under investigation for lobbying
Priti Patel 2017 - unsanctioned meeting with Israeli ministers
Priti Patel 2022- bullying (ministerial code)
Dominic Raab 2023 - bullying (ministerial code)
Matt Hancock 2021 - breaking Covid restrictions
Chris Huhne 2012 - got his wife to lie about speeding to avoid points
Damian Green 2017 - pornography found on his computer in the Commons
Brooks Newmark 2014 - sent explicit photos of himself to an undercover reporter
Amber Rudd 2018 - misleading Parliament over Windrush
Gavin Williamson 2019 - leaked classified information
When was collective responsibility suspended?
- Weakened during the coalition to accommodate for the varying views
(Exceptions for: Trident, Electoral reform, nuclear power, married tax allowance, university funding) - 2016 EU referendum so Cabinet members e.g. Johnson and Gove could campaign for leave
Preeminent PM
- superior to others
- arise from institutional powers
- place them above their collogues
(e.g. legal head of government assigned the Crown’s prerogative, access to knowledge and expertise through political and administrative means, setting the political agenda, media image)
Predominant
- institutional powers are reinforced by personal powers
(e.g. entrenched party leader, being associated with actual or anticipated political success, electorally popular, high standing in the party)
Thatcher - background
Spokesperson for housing and land dept
- advocating ‘right to buy’
Education and Science Sec
- prioritised academic needs
- matched her background
- 1970 to 1974
Leader of the opposition
- 1975 -1979
- support of the 1922 committee and the right of the party
- opposing a welfare state
- met regularly with President Ford and Carter
- Critical of Labour’s govt record
PM 1979
- 44 seat majority (after Callaghan lost a motion of no confidence)
Thatcher - Major events
- Winter of discontent (1978 - prior to election)
- England riots 1981
- Falklands War 1982
- 1984 Brighton hotel bombing
- 1984-85 miners’ strike
Thatcher - economic policies
Aim: strengthen individual liberties
- low inflation
- small state, free market
- control of the money supply
- privatisation
- constraining the labour movement and union power
