Powers Of The Executive

Question 1

What is traditional authority?

Answer 1

Traditional authority is authority that is considered legitimate because it has existed for a long historical period. The authority of the PM is traditional because they inherit the traditional authority of the monarch.

Question 2

Name 5 sources of prime ministerial authority.

Answer 2

1. Traditional authority
2. Party
3. Parliament
4. Patronage
5. The people

Question 3

How is traditional authority a source of prime ministerial power?

Answer 3

• The minister is no longer a political figure, but in theory they have powers known as the royal prerogative. - As the monarch cannot exercise these powers they are delegated to the PM. When exercising these powers, the PM is representing the whole nation.
• The PM and monarch follow a ritual of the monarch approving the chosen PM. Although this approval is merely formal, it does grant the PM authority.

Question 4

How is the political party a source of prime ministerial power?

Answer 4

• The PM is always the leader of the largest political party in the HoC following a GE.
• In this case, the PMs authority comes from the people in the leading party.
• Being the party leader, the PM is able to take the lead in policy making.
• If the governing political party loses confidence in its leader, the new leader will automatically become PM.
• This happened in 2019 when boris Johnson was replaced with Theresa May after she resigned, and in 2022 when Rishi Sunak replaced Liz truss as leader of the Conservative Party and PM.

Question 5

How is parliament a source of prime ministerial power?

Answer 5

• Each new parliament recognises the authority of the PM to lead the government.
• Parliament cannot replace one PM with another, although the ability for the PM to pass a budget could be seen as a formal approvemnt from parliament, all parliament can do officially is to dismiss the whole government though a vote of no confidence.
• The PM also gains significant power over parliament as they are the leader of the largest party in parliament. The more of a majority the leading party has, the more power the PM derives from this fact.
• If a govt is unable to secure the passage of legislation and financial plans through the HoC, it will lose power. MPs are aware of this and so those who represent the governing party tend to support their PM most of the time to ensure the survival of their government.

Question 6

How is patronage a source of prime ministerial power?

Answer 6

• Patronage refers to the power an individual may enjoy to make important appointments to public offices.
• Having this ability grants power because the people that want to be appointed are likely to remain loyal to the person he has the power to appoint them. Once appointed, the loyalty remains because the PMs have the power to dismiss them.
• This means the majority of MPs in the PMs political party are likely to be loyal to them, which allows the PM to exert considerable influence over their party and parliament.

Question 7

How is ‘the people’ a source of prime ministerial power?

Answer 7

• The PM is not directly elected by the people, but we can say that the PM enjoys a degree of authority directly from the people.
• The people grant the PM legitimacy and a mandate to govern the country. This causes a problem for the PMs who rise to the position of PM without having been elected by the people.

Question 8

Has parliament ever officially dismissed a government via a vote of no confidence?

Answer 8

• This happens very rarely, but the most recent instance was in 1979, when parliament dismissed the Labour government led by James Callaghan by a vote of no confidence.
• James Callaghan asked the monarch to dissolve parliament, which triggered a general election which he lost to the Conservative Party.

Question 9

How did John Major use parliament to strengthen his authority and power?

Answer 9

• The conservative PM John major became angry and concerned at the disloyalty of a number of his own backbench MPs.
• He therefore resigned as party leader. In the subsequent party leadership election, he got re-elected.
• This was a great boost to his authority and power. He had re- asserted some degree of control over parliament.

Question 10

State 5 formal powers of the PM.

Answer 10

1. Patronage - The PM has the ability to appoint and dismiss ministers, judges and peers and grant honours.
2. The PM chairs the cabinet including setting the agenda.
3. The PM is commander in chief of the armed forces and can commit them to action.
4. The Prime Minister conducts foreign policy and determines relationships with foreign powers - essentially they represent the country internationally.
5. The PM has the ability to call an early general election if Parliament approves with a 2/3s majority or passes a vote of no confidence.

Question 11

Where do most of the formal powers of the PM derive from?

Answer 11

The royal prerogative

Question 12

Why has the position of the PM being commander in chief come under challenge recently? Include recent examples.

Answer 12

• The PM is in theory the commander in chief of the armed forces, and can commit them into action when they want, however a new convention is being established that the PM should only make major military commitments on the advice and with the sanction of parliament.
• In 2013, David Cameron wanted to intervene more directly in the Syrian Civil war by backing US led air strikes in Syria. He held a vote in the HoC which voted against the intervention. He said he would respect their decision and did not back the air strikes.

Question 13

Give an example of a PM calling an early GE.

Answer 13

• TM called a snap general election in April 2017. It had only been 2 years since the previous GE and another one was not due until 2020 under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act.
• Looking at the poll ratings at the time, she could have expected to return as PM with a greatly strengthened majority in the HoC, and it could have made her less vulnerable to the demands of her backbenchers.
• Theresa May lost her overall majority in the HoC, whilst still remaining the largest party in parliament. The result was a hung parliament, with the conservatives only winning 317 seats.

Question 14

Give 5 examples of the PMs informal powers.

Answer 14

1. Controlling and setting the legislative agenda.
2. Economic leadership.
3. Media focus and platform.
4. National leadership in times of crisis.

Question 15

What does the term cabinet government mean?

Answer 15

The cabinet government is a situation where the main decision making of the government happens in the cabinet.

Question 16

Why is cabinet sometimes described as a ‘rubber stamp’?

Answer 16

• Policies and government decisions have to be approved by the cabinet if they are to be considered ‘official policy’.
• Occasionally, disagreement may occur in cabinet but usually approval is merely ritualised. Cabinet is therefore often described as a rubber stamp, as they just confirm the decisions the PM has made.

Question 17

How many people are usually in Cabinet?

Answer 17

20-25 senior government ministers.

Question 18

What is the cabinet Secretary?

Answer 18

1. The cabinet Secretary is the UKs most senior civil servant, a key advisor to the cabinet and PM. They always attend cabinet meetings to record the minutes.

Question 19

Name 3 key features of the Cabinet.

Answer 19

1. The cabinet doesn’t usually vote on issues - the PM always seeks a general consensus and requires all members of the cabinet to agree to that consensus decision. If a member of the cabinet dissents publicly, they are required to resign from the cabinet. Members of the convention are bound by collective ministerial responsibility.
2. The PM approves the minutes made by the Cabinet Secretary. These are a record of formal decisions made and key points raised for consideration.
3. Only members of the governing party are cabinet members. The only exception to this was in 2010-15 when there was a coalition between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives. Therefore the cabinet contained members from both parties.

Question 20

Explain the structure of the cabinet between 2010-15.

Question 21

Explain 2 times when cabinet members have resigned / been dismissed after publicly dissenting.

Question 22

Who was our last cabinet secretary? Who was he succeeded by?

Answer 22

• our last cabinet Secretary was Simon case, who filled the position from 2020 - 24. He stepped down on the grounds of ill health and has been succeeded by Chris wormald.

Question 23

Name 3 roles of cabinet.

Question 24

What is the Downing Street machine?

Question 25

What are cabinet committees?

Question 26

How do the PM and the Cabinet interact?

Question 27

What are cabinet committees? Who are they chaired by?

Question 28

Explain the role of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Question 29

How do groups of ministers and the cabinet interact?

Question 30

State 4 powers of the UK cabinet.

Question 31

How does the cabinet legitimise government policy?

Question 32

How does cabinet set the legislative agenda?

Question 33

How does cabinet support the PM?

Question 34

How does cabinet decide on government policy?