PM and cabinet 26/4/24

Question 1

5 factors considered by PM when choosing cabinet

Answer 1

individual competence and experience
establishing authority
loyalty and political reliability
ideological balance
direct representation

Question 2

explain why the PM will consider individual competence and experience

Answer 2

running a government is a large and complex job
being an effective communicator to the media is also important so must avoid disunity of cabinet

Question 3

individual competence and experience examples

Answer 3

hunt brought in by truss following 9 years in govt after kwarteng sacked and hunt kept in by sunak
ben Wallace as sec of state following his experience in the army

Question 4

individual competence and experience failure examples

Answer 4

truss bringing in kwarteng despite only 2 years working in govt

Question 5

establishing authority (selecting cabinet ministers)

Answer 5

may remove certain ministers and replace with their own allies
or even those who threaten the leadership of the PM

Question 6

example of pM bringing in allies to cabinet

Answer 6

Sunak - bringing back raab as justice sec Gove and braverman despite braverman being sacked by truss for breaking ministerial code

Question 7

political loyalty and reliability (selecting cabinet members)

Answer 7

PM seeks to reward loyal allies and those they know will accept collective responsibility
PM must be confident ministers won’t destablise or embarrass the unity of govt

Question 8

political loyalty example - JOHNSON 2020 NI sec

Answer 8

johns in 2020 reshuffle sacked NI sec Julian smith and replaced with Brandon smith as Julian smith had spoken out against a no deal BREXIT

Question 9

ideological balance
(selecting cabinet ministers)

Answer 9

representing different factions
keeping important members who may ideologically oppose pM as they have to accept collective responsibility and cut challenge PM
after leadership elections, may offer failed candidates positions in cabinet

Question 10

ideological balance of cabinet examples

Answer 10

Mays cabinet balance of brexiteers (Johnson) and retainers (Hunt)
Johnson gave seats to other leadership candidates e.g. Gove, hancock
however - truss did not offer sunak position after defeating him in 2022