Parliament - Ministerial Responsibility Flashcards
(25 cards)
What is individual ministerial responsibility?
The principle by which ministers are responsible for thier own personal conduct and for their departments
What are the factors that influence whether IMR is enforced?
-How serious the issue is percieved to be
-The level of criticism in parliament and the media when the mistake is made
-The attitude of the prime mininster of the day
What was Alistair Campbell’s ‘golden rule’
Campbell was reported to have a goldren rule that a minister would have to go if her/she was at the centre of a media storm for a given amount of time
What is a reason why individual ministerial responsibility (in relation to government departments) has declined?
Many functions have been delegated to executive agencies under a director general rather than a minister. Leaving questions as to who is accountable with the minister assuming responsibility for making overall policy, whilst the head of agency exercises ‘operation responsibility’
This leaves civil servants to often take responsibility whereas traditionally civil servants had been anomonous neither the recepients of punishment or credit in relation to government conduct.
What is collective minnisterial responsibility?
Principle by which ministers must support cabinet decisions or leave the cabinet.
What is the purpose of collective ministerial responsibility?
Promote government unity in the face of oppositions and means that government as whole is responsible to parliament for their decision.
Give examples of CMR being suspended
By Harold Wilson in the 1975 EEC referendum recognising that he had to allow ministers to campaign on both sides to prevent resignations from anti-Europeans
During 2010 coalition government where LibDem minsters were allowed to abstain from votes on: construction of nuclear power stations, funding for higher education, tax allowances for married couples and the renewal of Trident.
How did Sunak suspend CMR?
Held two free votes on contentious issues to prevent cabinet resignations and maintain unity:
-In June 2023 When parliament considered the Privledges Commitee’s report on the misconduct of Boris Johnson, which recommended a 90 day suspension. Several ministers chose to abstain rather than support the report, highlighting their loyalty to Johnson.
-Similarly, on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill in April 2024 which sought to incrementally increase the legal smoking age, ministers cited their right to dissent and voted against the measure, citing personal and constituency concerns.
How did Starmer suspend CMR?
Held free vote on Assited Dying Bill in 2024 to prevent cabinet resignations
How does government power affect CMR?
CMR is shown to break down when governments are weak and the party is ideologically divided. With Cabinet ‘big beast’ able to leak their dissatisfaction.
How was CMR underminded under Truss
In October 2022, Leader of the HOC Penny Mourdant and Welsh Secretary Robert Buckland publicly opposed Liz Truss’s government policy that benefits shouldn’t rise with inflation and neither of them were sacked.
Give an example of CMR being upheld in Starmer’s government
Before the 2025 Supreme Court ruling of the Equality Act Starmer and other members of the Cabinet had stated that they included trans women in their definition of a women. However after the decision, in April 2025, the government changed its stance to align with the ruling and all of Starmer’s cabinet defended the decision with Equalies Minister Bridget Phillipson publicly arguing that it protected single sex spaces.
Anelise Dodds (International Development Minister) resigning over Starmer’s decision to reduce international aid from 0.5% to 0.3% of GNI. Arguing in her resignation letter that it would ‘remove food and healthcare from desperate people’ thereby ‘deeply harming the UK’s reputation’
Give an example of IMR (in relation to personal conduct) being upheld under Starmer’s government
In February 2025, Labour Health Minister Andrew Gwynne was fired and lost the Labour whip following the emergence of offensive messaged he’d written. Including Gwynne writing that he hoped a pensioner would soon die and joked about her being ‘mown down’ by a track. As well as insluting fellow MPs such as Angela Rayner and Diane Abbott
In January 2025, Treasury Minister Tulip Suddiq resigned following an anti corruption investigation in Bangladesh in which she was named in. It was eventually found that she had not breached the minnisterial code however she resignes as she had a ‘serious conflict of interest’
Government highlighting the messages as ‘unacceptable’
Give an example of IMR being upheld in Boris Johnson’s government (personal conduct)
In June 2021, the Health Secretary Matt Hancock resigned after a video showed him having an extramaritial affair with their colleague, which also meant he had breached his own department’s COVID regulations.
How can Matt Hancock serve as evidence that media backlash is what truly drives IMR?
The fact that the resignation took so along and Hancock originally tried to just apolgise (which Johnson accepted) rather than resign
What has Starmer implemented to ensure IMR (personal conduct)
Revised the ministerial code to allow his independent advises to initiate his own investigations, rather then them beginning only at the request of number 10.
What does the ministerial code decribe the PM as?
‘judge, jury and executioner’
How did Johnson edit the ministerial code to weaken it?
In May 2022 Johnson revised the ministerial code to weaken the rules of IMR so that ministers who break the rules are no longer expected to resign but to publicly apologise and/or accept a reduction to their pay.
Mentions of ‘honesty’, ‘transparency’, ‘integrity’, and ‘accountability’ were also removed from the foreward to the ministerial code.
What is the upgolding of IMR (personal conduct) dependent on
The PM in office
Give an example of Starmer only upholding IMR (personal conduct) when media pressure becomes too much
Resignation of State Secretary of Tranport Louise Haigh in November 2024 after news reports emerged of a fruad conviction in 2010. Starmer knew about the conviction in 2020, but chose to appoint her to the cabinet anyway and only accepted her resignation when there was significant media pressure on him to do so.
Give examples of IMR (personal conduct) being underminded under Johnson
-Parygate, including Johnson who misled parliament and failed to resign after his breach was discovered
-Matt Hancock
-Priti Patel
How did Johnson react to Priti Patel’s IMR failure
In 2020 an independent investigation conluded that then Home Secretary Priti Patel had bullied civil servants, yet she failed to offer her resignation and Johnson failed to force her to resign.
This was party due to her being a ‘big beast’ with a lot of political power as she was very popular with the right of the party due to her strong stance on immigration.
Give examples of Ministers resigning due to failing to uphold IMR (responsibility for department)
Estelle Morris who resigned as Secretary of State for Education and Skills in 2002 after her department had not met the literacy and numeracy targets they had set.
April 2018 when Amber Rudd resigned as Home Secretary after inadvertly misleading the Home Affairs Select Committee. She had said that she was unaware of any deportation removal targets within the department, despite contrary evidence
Give examples of IMR (responsibility for department) being undermined and a civil servant instead being blamed
In 2020 Education Secretary Gavin Williamson over saw major failings in his department, in particular the failing of the exam’s algorithm to determine GCSE and A-level results. Despite this he remained in office for over a year afterwards. The Head of Ofqual (a civil servant) however did resign.
