PM Dominance Flashcards
(8 cards)
Party Unity NOT DOMINANT
*critical role in ensuring the PM does not dominate
*PM’s party members are united and aligned with party policies, the PM can maintain political strength.
*significant divisions within the party- PM’s can be overruled by cabinet and cannot force policies through reluctant colleagues. For example, May and Brexitteers
*A minority government or a fragile coalition may further limit the PM’s ability to act freely (need to negotiate and maintain support of various parties)
Professor Peter Hennessy suggests that the office of prime minister is an extremely flexible one NOT DOMINANT
*Some prime ministers will therefore seek to dominate, while others will be either unable or unwilling to do so.
*actual powers and limitations of the office have not, he argues, changed a great deal in modern times.
*Britain has seen two very dominant leaders (Thatcher and Blair) who have been able to squeeze as much power from the office as possible.
*weaker premierships of Edward Heath and John Major prove that a presidential style is not inevitable.
Collective Ministerial Responsibility NOT DOMINANT
*all ministers expected to publicly support government decisions. If a minister disagrees with a decision, they must either resign or support it publicly (reinforcing PM doesn’t have unilateral control over policy)
*If PM pushes a controversial decision and ministers disagree, they risk losing key members of Cabinet, which limits their power.
*Since ministers collectively defend government policies, any public backlash is shared across Cabinet
*PM cannot solely shift blame for unpopular decisions onto individual ministers or their colleagues preventing the PM from controlling the narrative or becoming dominant in taking credit or blame.
cabinet can still exert itself to force a change of leader NOT DOMINANT
*Eg cabinets role in the demise of Blair, Johnson and Truss.
*The ‘elastic theory suggests that as the PM tries to stretch the powers of the office further and further, the forces of constraint become increasingly strong.
*eg as Thatcher tried to exercise more control, her enemies grew in number and got rid of her.
policy making functions have now moved to Downing Street DOMINANT
*PM now has an extensive network of personal advisers, think tanks, and policy units that are not available to the rest of the government unless he wants them to be so.
*US President has own White House staff and large executive office - PM has his own ‘government department’, mostly in Downing Street.
*used to be that the PM was at a disadvantage when negotiating with ministers as they had huge departments of civil servants to assist them, while the PM had very little. Opposite now
greater media attention DOMINANT
*growing importance of the media in politics has contributed to the greater concentration on the individual holder of the office of PM, rather than the government as a whole.
*PM’s now have large groups of advisers whose task is to enhance the media image of the PM and to control the flow of information coming out of Downing Street.
*the general public have also come to see the government in terms of its leading member, rather than as a collection of ministers and MPs.
*eg Margaret Thatcher often portrayed as face of British gov in the media in the 1980’s.
Undoubted growth in importance of international and military affairs DOMINANT
*When the head of government has to negotiate with foreign powers, attend international conferences, negotiate treaties and conduct wars, they appear more powerful.
*At large conferences the PM will be seen with the presidents of France and the USA who represent their countries on these occasions eg Tony Blair forged close links with US President Bill Clinton
*Being seen with such large political leaders has made the PM appear more dominant.
evidence of recent dominant PM’s DOMINANT
*eg Thatcher and Blair.
*Thatcher often openly opposed her own ministers, suggesting that they tended to be inefficient and wasteful.
*popular leader who commanded great public support. Most famously Thatcher decided to use her own advisers on economic policy and to by-pass her own Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson, a tactic which ultimately led to his resignation in 1989 and contributed to her own demise a year later.
*Although Blair was not as dominant as Thatcher he did dominate some parts of the domestic political agenda and had ‘Blair’s sofa cabinet’ (smaller informal meetings with his cabinet members that weren’t minuted) However, his real preference lay in international affairs eg American Middle East Policy.
