Prime Minister And The Executive (UK Gov 3) Flashcards
(39 cards)
What is the executive?
Branch of government that deals with the formulation and implementation of policy
Main constituents of the executive
-PM (head of exec)
-The cabinet (ultimate decision making body that run government departments)
-Junior ministers (specify policy portfolios (aims) within government)
-government departments (civil service and enforcement agencies)
The core executive
The PM, cabinet, cabinet committees and cabinet office (supports Pm and cabinet) and senior civil services
They are responsible for most of the implementation of policy and big decisions
As of 2023 this encompassed 126 people
Peel convention
Convention that all government ministers must come from either the commons or the lords to be scrutinised (hence why sunak gave Cameron a peerage in 2023 to serve as his foreign secretary and why brown gave many to his “government of all talents”)
Cameron is still controversial because he can’t be scrutinised in the commons, which could be seen as undemocratic
What is a SpAd?
A special advisor, hired directly by a cabinet minister to aid them in the formation of policy
Examples:
Dominic Cummings was Johnson’s SpAd who was very controversial for having too much power ( could fire other people’s spades as he did to Sonia Khan) and breached Covid regulations by driving to Durham (breach of SpAd code of conduct)
Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy were Mays spades who wrote a lot of her 2017 manifesto, undermining the role of junior ministers
Role of executive (3)
-making policy decisions
-proposing legislation
-proposing a budget (Spring 2024 budget was when Hunt announced a plan by 2025 to tax non-doms on foreign income)
Prerogative powers
Powers of the monarchy exercised by the executive such as making teartise, deploying armed forces and patronage
Examples of prerogative powers being limited
Since 2003 Iraq, it has now become convention for parliament to vote on deploying the army (broken in 2018 when May took military action in Syria without permission, in 2013 they voted against it strikes then for them in 2015 so its all a bit mad)
2011 fixed terms parliament act removed the power to call an early general election, however the 2022 dissolution and calling or parliament act re-established this power
Secondary legislation
Legislation passed by government ministers with permission granted from a primary legislation
They are rarely scrutinied or blocked (it is convention that the lords don’t block them)
2015= lords amended 2 on tax credits, which is nothing when u think that 3500 pass annually
What is individual ministerial responsibility?
The convention that ministers are accountable to the government for both their own actions and the actions of their department.
It is expected that minsters resign if mistakes are made in their department, if this policy fails or for own personal misconduct
Recent examples of IMR
2017= Pritti Patel resigns after holding unauthorised meetings with Israeli officials
2018= Amber Rudd resigns after misleading a select committee on government targets to remove illegal immigrants
2021= Matt Hancock being an adulterer
1982=Lord Carrington resigned after Falkland’s war misjudgment
What is collective ministerial responsibility?
The convention that ministers must publicly support cabinet decisions or else resign
Ensures secrecy, confidence of the government and binding of policies and MPs
Recent examples of CMR
Lee Anderson resigns after Brexit disagreement (2024)
Press leaks from 2017-19 about Brexit disagreements
Press leaks from 2020-21 about COVID policy disagreements (Sunaks letter to Johnson asking him to lift lockdown early)
Key features of the PM:
-there’s no constitutional definition of one (lack of limit to power)
-most of their powers lie in the royal prerogative
-main responsibilities=chairing cabinet, managing the executive and relations with parliament and representing the UK internationally
Main powers of the PM
-powers of patronage (giving peerages and cabinet positions e.g. Mays big beats in cabinet like Johnson and Davis could be seen as a tactic to prevent them opposing her)
-appointing cabinet ministers
-authority in the cabinet system
-policy making input (Sunaks recognition that Rwanda policy breaches human rights and Johnson’s signing of the EU Withdrawl agreement)
Key prerogative powers held by the PM
-negotiation and signing of treatise (Lisbon treaty 2007, Brexit, Maastricht treaty 1992)
-going to war (Blair’s Iraq, Thatchers Falkland’s, Mays Syria)
-Public appointment
-conducting foreign affairs (meeting with other leaders and upholding peace between states)
Formal roles of the PM (granted by royal prerogative)
-patronage
-commander-in-chief
-cabinet chair
-chief diplomat
-singing treatise
-calling a general election (as of 2022)
Informal roles of the PM (granted by political support (public and party))
-controlling government policy
-setting and carrying out the legislative agenda
-economic leadership (Blair gave to fully to Brown)
-media focus
-leader in a crisis
Cabinet government
-A government in which the PM is “primus-inter-pares” (first amongst equals)
-Used for much of the 20th century and described by Bagehot in “The English constitution”
-PM cannot act unilaterally and big decisions are made by the cabinet as a collective
Prime ministerial government
-A government in which the PM may make a lot of decisions in small groups (“kitchen cabinets” or “sofa governmen”) instead of using the whole cabinet
-used in the latter half of the 20th century (Blair and thatcher)
Circumstances in which the Pm can be seen as dominant
-good leadership and reputation
-association with political success
-electoral popularity
-high standing in party
Circumstances in which the PM can be seen as eminent (respected but not dominant)
-legally the head of government
-leadership of the government via agenda
-not particularly eccentric or notable
Think Brown and major
Presidentialisation
The idea that UK PMs have been acting more like US presidents
Characterised by spatial leadership (distancing themselves from the party), personalised leadership and public outreach
Thatcher as PM (notable things)
-known as the “Iron lady”
-strong ideological and economic beliefs (neoliberal and even known as Thatcherism)
-Foots unpopularity boosted her image in 1983
-Privatisation and reduction of TU powers
-188 seat majority in 1983
-poll tax and miner strikes
Very presidential
