PM + The executive Flashcards
(15 cards)
What does the pm do when they come to power
PM head of gov
Who selects a team of MPs and some lords
- forms the governments cabinet
Patronage
Power of Hire and Fire
All ministers including cabinate and Jr ministers
Govt departments
how many departments are there in government
24 govt dep headed by a member of cabinet eg department of education is/was Gillian Keagan
Cabinate
what is the cabinate
20 Sr ministers head dept
Chief whip and leader of house can attend meetings
Meetings are formal and headed by pm - seen as advisors provided admin support
Mays Cabinate
July 2016
Sacked large amount of Cams cabinate.
Balanced with leave:remain
Her meetings were long and drawn out
Powers of cabinate
Can remove the PM through vote of no confidence
Thatcher in 1990 (poll tax) Blair 2007
Majority of ministers can over rule the PM
BB like quasi
Royal prerogative powers
- patronage
- Declaring war
2003 Blair gained parl appproval for Iraq war
2022 Sunak sent £2.3bill in military aid to Ukraine - signing/ ratifying treaties
- Emergencies action in times of crisis
2021 Bo Jo vaccine rollout for covid - Calling a G.E
Sunak 4th July election
Fixed term parliment act
2011 set parliment for 5 yr term fixed GE date
Repealed in 2022 by B.J
Control over the Agenda
powers of the PM
Controls parliments Timetable and proposes primary bills
Rare that govt is defeated on legislation
May bill defeated 33 times (she had a minority govt)
Blair only defeated 4 times in his 3rd term
Opposition days
What is a reshuffle?
Where the PM may shuffle their cabinate changing positions or moving ministers out of cabinate
Liz Truss how was her cabinet significant
She had not altered the cabinet much and kept on some of the ministers from Johnson
However she had appointed ministers who agreed with her economic vision (which was highly contrivesaial)
Liz Truss had also been forced to resign
1997-2007 presidential government
Blair had and overwhelming majority and used a ‘sofa government’ led to claims of presidential inaction
Intro of the PMs office + increase d publicity also the roles of SPADs
Sunak and his 2023 cabinet brief
He had reshuffled the cabinet and had also put ex PM David Cameron in his cabinate reshuffle - wasn’t a good look for him
Sunak and his 2023 cabinet full
Rishi Sunak reshuffled the cabinet in November 2023 and sacked former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who was replaced by James Cleverley and Lord Cameron entered the cabinet to become the Foreign Secretary. Reasons for reshuffle were thought to be Suella Braverman’s the Times article criticising the Police conduct favouring protestors, and the dichotomic view on Rwanda scheme between Sunak and Braverman. Also theorised to be a strategic preemptive move by Rishi, anticipating the SC ruling on Rwanda scheme.
PM patronage
- Boris Johnson appointed Dominic Cummings as Chief Advisor in July 2019 due to the same view on the EU (VoteLeave campaign)
- Margaret Thatcher appointed the ‘dry’ tories because of the difference in political views between the ‘wet’ and ‘dry’
- Blair appointed Brown as the Chancellor due to a consensus on policies and power exchange (Blair did not want to step down on 2005 tho, he eventually stepped down as PM anyways)
