Prime Minister and Executive Flashcards
(32 cards)
What are the components of His Majesty’s Government
Prime Minister - 1
The cabinet -24
Junior ministers from Commons- 80
Junior ministers from the Lords - 25
What are civil servants?
Help ministers make and implement policy, permeant officials and politically neutral
What are the three main roles of the executive?
Proposing legislation - Kings speech and government bills
Proposing budget - Chancellor proposes a budget setting out the government proposals for taxation
Exp. 2020 Sunak proposed 12bn for extra spending for COVID
Making policy decisions - government departments make policy choices
What are the three main powers of the executive?
Royal prerogative powers - in theory the monarchs has this power but he acts upon the advice of the PM
Initiation or legislation - power to propose bills to Parliament and controls the timing of these
Secondary legislation- changing small details of bills
What is the Cabinet?
Team of senior government ministers who collectively govern the UK - supreme decision making body
appointed by the King who follows the advice of the PM
What are some limitations of the cabinet?
Power has shifted from the cabinet to the PM
cabinet could not take all weeks key decisions in a single meeting
What are the 6 key roles of the cabinet?
Policy coordination
Dispute resolution
Party management
Forum for debate
Policy approval
Symbol of collective government
Who are some current government ministers?
Chancellor of Exchequer- Jeremy Hunt
Home secretary - James Cleverly
Education secretary- Gillian Keegan
Foreign secretary- Lord Cameron
What is collective responsibility?
The doctrine that ministers must defend the governments position publicly even if they disagree with the position privately
What are some examples of resignations under collective responsibility
Headline - 1986 - Thatcher overruled him over helicopter deal
Cook - 2003 - Iraq war and Blair
Johnson - 2018 - Mays soft Brexit plan at Chequers
Sunak - Johnson’s leadership and scandals
What are the implications of collective responsibility?
cabinet:
Less likely to rebel against decisions due to fear losing a job
creates more cabinet unity
PM;”:
anxious about mass resignation
announce policy’s publicly before consulting parliament
What is individual ministerial responsibility?
ministers a responsible for:
actions and inactions of department
ministers own personal conduct
What are the differences between civil servants and ministers
CS:
permanent
politically neutral
anonymous
Ministers:
non permanent
political
publicly accountable
What are examples of resignations due to individual ministerial responsibility?
Estelle Morris - 2002 - felt she wasn’t effective in job
Chris Huhne - 2012 - lying for speeding and going to prison
Maria Miller - 2014 - expenses scandal
Matt Hancock - 2021 - affair during covid
What are the 6 functions of the PM;
Head of government- selects government, head of civil servants (exp. Sunak sacking Braverman and appointing Lord Cameron)
Chief domestic policy maker - direct overall policy (exp. Johnson and lockdown, Rwanda bill)
Chief foreign policy maker - making treaties (support for ukraine and brexit)
Commander in chief of Armed forces - ultimate decision wether to send troops to war (Sunak and Yemen)
Chief government spokesperson- provide official government line on policies ( Johnson during Covid)
Parliamentary leader - leads largest party in Commons
What is the difference between formal and informal powers:
Formal - all PMs posses prerogative powers (technically held by king but exercised by PM)
Informal - vary according to PM and their circumstances
What are the formal powers of PM?
Granting peerage - Lord Cameron and Baroness Own
Head of Civil Servixe
Appoint and dismiss ministers
Commanding the Armed forces
Negotiating foreign treaties
chairing cabinet meetings
What is the power of patronage?
Bring MPs and peers into cabinet - 2022 Sunak brought Gillian Keegan in for Education Secretary
Remove MPs - Liz Truss sacked Kwasi Kwarteng after 38 days
Reshuffle ministers - 2022 Sunak promoted Braverman to Home Secretary
Restructure positions and department - 2021 Johnson added levelling up department
What factors do PMs take into account when appointing ministers?
Loyalty - Truss appointed her friend Kwasi Kwarteng as Chancellor in 2022
Expertise - current Defence Secretary Ben Wallace spent eight years in the Army
Powerful figure in party - Blair included Brown in his 1997-2007 cabinet
Tendency balance - May included Brexiteerd and ex-Remainers
Representation
convention that ministers are drawn from parliament
What are the main constraint on PMs power?
The cabinet
parliament
PMs own party
The public
The media
What is the cabinet office
A small organisation serving the PM and work mostly in Number 10
Number 10 policy unit: develop policies in line with PMs agenda
Communications unit; briefs the media helping PM spread message
How does the PM control Parliament?
Has a majority in commons so can pass bills quickly
Lords unelected so PM can use this as a reason to pass bills
Use programme motion to limit debate in Commins
Can bypass Lords after one year
Can easily create new peers
In what ways is Parliament able to control the PM
Lords can reject and amend bills as there is not programme motion
Vote of no confidence can be called
Commons can choose not to pass bills
Opposition day debates
PMQs and Liasion committee
In what ways can the PM control their party?
Whipping system encourage MPs to support government
Demoting MPs if they rebel too much
Publicly annnounce policy to force collective responsibility
giving speeches at party conference
