The PM and Cabinet Flashcards
(63 cards)
CASE STUDY: Andrew Mitchell and ‘pleb gate’.
2012 - Andrew Mitchell - chief whip called a police officer a pleb.
Mitchell was forced to resign - he had become a distraction for the prime minister snd government
What are the 7 principles of the ministerial code:
- Selflessness.
- Integrity.
3.Objectivity.
4.Accountability. - Openness.
- Honesty: ministers should be truthful to both parliament and the public.
- Leadership
How is the Prime Minister chosen?
Not chosen directly by the people, but rather is the leader of the largest party in the commons.
When an election is not clear cut, when there is no clear majority won such as in 2017, May was appointed PM and formed a confidence and supply arrangement with the DUP.
How do Prime Ministers leave office?
By loosing an election and are forced out by voters.
Retire (such as Harold Wilson 1976)
Pressure from the parliamentary party.
What is meant by the core executive?
Policy making network that includes the PM, junior ministers, cabinet committees and top civil servants.
What are cabinet committees?
Specialist subdivisions of the cabinet comprising fewer members who focus on particular policy areas.
What are the key roles of the core executive?
-Making policy, its the role of the executive and the cabinet to decide on policy and the administrative part of implementing policy is down to the civil service.
-Passing Legislation, though it is parliament that must pass all laws, most major laws are decided in the cabinet.
-Financing, key role of the chancellor and the treasury. Make decisions on taxation and government spending typically announced in the annual budget.
-Being the national first responder, during national emergencies (war, terrorist outrages, the pandemic) executive is required to put together emergency measures and to reassure the public.
What are the main powers of the executive?
-The appointment/dismissal of ministers by the PM and other patronage powers.
-The deployment of UK armed forces overseas.
-Relations with international power and international diplomacy.
-Making and ratifying treaties.
-The organisation and structure of the civil service.
-Issuing directives and statements during times of national emergency.
The prerogative powers of the executive are significant:
-Opportunity to deploy armed forces overseas is significant, the PM does not had to seek parliamentary approval to of to war, or have to seek approval for additional funding.
-PM has an unlimited choice on who joins and leaves their government. The presence of the Lords means that the PM can chose someone who does not have a democratic mandate.
-During national crises, the PM can deliver broadcast and messages to reassure the public. Around 27 million were estimated to have watched Boris Johnson message on the covid lockdown.
-Executive has a crucial role in negotiating treaties and agreements with other nations on trade and defence.
The prerogative powers of the executive are not significant:
-By convention all recent military action has been put before a vote in the commons - true for the Gulf War as well as airstrikes in Syria and Iraq.
-The PM is constrained in their choice of ministers, they have to chose a divers cabinet as well has having a broad spectrum of the party. May had to include retainers and brexiteers in her cabinet.
-The PM also relies on parliament to pass legislation such as anti-terror laws.
-Brexit showed that the prerogative powers of the PM can be limited. A Supreme Court ruling forced the PM to submit any Brexit deal before parliament.
Why can it be argued that the role of the PM has become more presidential?
-The cabinet is no longer a forum for open debate, some critics say that the traditional model of cabinet government ceases to exist.
-Thatcher and Blair have been accused of presidentialism.
Blairs former Northern Ireland secretary Mo Mowlam state that ‘Cabinet itself was dead’.
Blair was accused of preferring a ‘sofa government’.
Even in the 2010 coalition, ‘the quad’ were accused of dominating cabinet.
Who were ‘the quad’ in the 2010-5 coalition?
PM David Cameron, Deputy PM Nick Clegg, Chancellor George Osborne and Chief secretary of the treasury Danny Alexander.
PM relied heavily on his inner cabinet/ kitchen cabinet.
How has the role of SpAds changed?
-First appointed by Harold Wilson in the 1960’s.
-They are personal and political appointments made by the PM.
-Now they are believed to yield too much power.
Give some examples of infleuntial SpAds:
Blair’s Chief of Staff Alistair Campbell.
(intervened during one of Blairs interview saying ‘we don’t do God’.)
May: Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill.
Johnson: Dominic Cummings.
Why have SpAds been criticised?
Clare Short in her resignation speech 2003, stated that the problems of Labours second term in office were down to the centralisation of power in the hands of the PM and a select number of advisors.
Cummings was repeatedly seen to have been too powerful by both the Conservative party and the public.
What is the argument against presidentialism?
-Thatcher, Blair and Johnson do suggest power premiers, however this is a misleading picture overall.
-PMs with weak or non-existent parliamentary majorities can’t dominate. May suffered two defeats in the commons over her Brexit deal, her cabinet was deeply divided over her ‘Chequers deal’ - David Davis and Boris Johnson resigned after the deal.
-Blair and Thatcher were forced out one their position because of criticism and divides within their own party. Blair because of the Iraq War and Thatcher over the poll tax.
Argument that the role of the PM has greatly changed in recent times:
-Several PMs, such as Blair and Thatcher have been accused of running a more presidential style of leadership. Bypassed full cabinet meetings and preferring gatherings of key ministers and SpAds.
-Growth in the use of SpAds at the expense of seeking policy advice from civil servants.
-Development of social media and celebrity culture has led to a growing focus on personality of individual rather than the wider cabinet. Seen in the start of election debates being televised in 2010.
Increased media scrutiny has led the PM to focus on popular media and tailor messages directly to the people.
The role of the PM has barely changed in recent times:
-No formal changes in the powers available to the PM. Same prerogative powers.
-The premierships of Blair and Thatcher should be assessed alongside that of John Major, Theresa May and David Cameron.
-Influence of SpAds somewhat exaggerated. During the covid pandemic the most powerful advice came from medical experts - chief medical office Professor Chris Whitty.
-PMs will want to portray themselves as collegiate and collaborative in their approach to leadership
Why can the modern day PM be described as a parliamentary president?
The formal institutional powers of the PM have changed very little, what has changed is the context and particular situations of their premierships.
What are the sources of policies?
-Manifesto pledges and promises.
-Personal convictions of the PM, usually reflected in the manifesto.
-Outcome of referendums.
-Results of deals with minority to coalition parties.
-Responses to national crises and emergency situations.
-Pressure from the public and media.
-Changing social and cultural attitudes.
CASE STUDY
Fulfilling a manifesto pledge: extending free childcare.
2017 conservative manifesto promised to offer working parents of 3 and 4 year olds 30 free hours of childcare a week.
Fulfilling a manifesto pledge: extending free childcare.
2017 conservative manifesto promised to offer working parents of 3 and 4 year olds 30 free hours of childcare a week.
Scheme was rolled out in September 2017, when the conservatives won the election.
The personal conviction of the PM: Privatisation and the sale of council houses.
Margaret Thatcher often referred to as a ‘conviction politician’.
One of her beliefs was in the benefits of a property owning democracy.
1979-1990: Council house tenants were given the right to buy, enabled them to buy their own homes at substantially reduced rates.
1981, 5.4 million were in social housing, by 1991 it had dropped by 500,000.
Also privatised industries such as British Telecom, gas and electricity companies and coal mines.
CASE STUDY: Outcome of a referendum - Brexit
2016 Brexit referendum saw a 52:48 victor for those who had voted leave.
Cameron resigned and May was left to implement Brexit.
The referendum result was one that the PM and many MPs disagreed with.
May voted remain but was left to implement the referendum result.
May ultimately failed to pass a Brexit deal through the commons, replaced by Johsnon who mangled to pass a Brexit deal.
