UK executive Flashcards
(13 cards)
1
Q
what are the main institutions of executive
A
- Prime Minister: head of government and chair of cabinet
- Cabinet: Committee of senior ministers ultimate decision making body of government
- ministers: appointed by PM to specify policy portfolios within the government
- government departments: main administrative units of central government each dealing with a particular area of policy
2
Q
what are the main roles of the executive
A
- Making policy decisions: set political priorities and determine countries overall political direction
- proposing legislation: executive devises and initiates legislation government has law making power on secondary legislation
- proposing the budget: Chancellor set out proposed levels of taxation and public spending following negotiations in cabinet
3
Q
what powers do the executive have
A
- Prerogative powers
- making and ratifying treaties
- international diplomacy
- deployment of armed forces
- organization of civil service
- Control of legislative power
- executive control of timetable and majority of their bills pass
- PMBs that don’t have government support often fail
4
Q
what are the key functions of the PM (7)
A
- political leadership: decides political direction taken by government, setting its priorities and strategy e.g. Theresa May moved UK towards Brexit
- National leadership: PM is the dominant political figure in UK and provides national leadership at times of crisis e.g. Boris Johnson during COVID also commander in chief
- PM determines membership of government by appointing and dismissing ministers
- PM chairs cabinet meetings sets its agenda and steers its direction. Can create cabinet committees
- responsible for overall organization of government and head of civil service
- Relations with parliament: PM makes statements and answers questions in Commons and shapes government legislature programme
- represents UK in international relations and diplomacy
5
Q
what is the Prime Ministers office
A
- no official department for PM but made up of 190 staff including civil servants and special advisors which help PM by
- Policy advise: Provides PM with advise that may differ from ministers. PM appoints own special advisors, Chief of Staff most important and is at center of all operations e.g Morgan McSweeney for Kier Starmer
- Communications: presentation of government policy. Senior civil servant deals with government communications following Blairs personal aide Alastair Campbell facing criticism
6
Q
what is patronage powers
A
power of an individual to appoint someone to an important position in exchange for loyalty
7
Q
how do life peers help patronage powers
A
- PM can appoint people to House of Lords as life peers
- enables them to change party balance of Lords
- Blair appointed 162 life peers
CONSTRAINTS - after ‘cash for honors’ scandal nominations must now be considered by Honors committee made up of civil servants and people independent of government
- also now can’t make judicial appointments
8
Q
how can appointing Cabinet ministers help patronage powers
A
- in theory can reward loyalty and punish disloyalty giving PM huge advantage over colleagues
- in practice however PM doesn’t have free hand to do what he wants e.g. May didn’t appoint 15 ministers from Cameron’s cabinet in 2016 those MPs then caused issues in backbenches
- PMs also have to deal with party ideologies e.g. Thatcher’s ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ conservatives and Blairs new and old Labor wings of party
9
Q
why is cabinet management important for PMs
A
- being too domineering (Thatcher) or too indecisive (Major) can weaken PMs authority
- effective PM will act as coordinator or broker on disputed issues
10
Q
what is agenda setting in cabinet
A
- PM can determine the agenda of cabinet meetings by:
- Controlling information presented to ministers by determining which issues and papers should be brought before the cabinet
- keeping potentially difficult issues off cabinet agendas by dealing with them in bilateral meetings with relevant ministers
- deciding the chair, membership and remit of cabinet committees
11
Q
what is a cabinet committee
A
- group of ministers that can “ take collective decisions that are binding across government”
- designed to reduce burden on full cabinet by allowing smaller groups of ministers to take decisions on specific policy areas
- others see it as giving too much power to PM as they can avoid setting full cabinet committees
- useful in coalition e.g. Cameron, Clegg
- can be used to avoid difficult issues with full committee
12
Q
what is the presdentialisation of PM theory (6)
A
- Theory by Michael Foley which describe how UK PMs have taken on some characteristics of a president which is characterized by spatial leadership and public outreach
- theory doesn’t claim PM is same as US president
- personalized leadership: expected to be dominant political personality who stamps their imprint on government and imposes a personal vision . Evident in election campaigns and party organization treated as personal mandate
- public outreach: media spotlight falls on PM more than any other minister PM expected to connect with popular mood
- Spatial leadership: Distance between PM and government. PM now relies more on own inner circle of advisors then on cabinet system e.g. Blair and Cameron presented themselves as party outsiders
- However also creates issues as PM now blamed for policy or personal failures e.g. Blair after Iraq
13
Q
what is the rubber band theory
A
- theory created by George Jones that describes how PMs should act in cabinet
- if PM is too domineering after a period of time Rubber band will snap and they will lose their authority e.g. Thatcher
- if PM is too slack rubber band will be loose and their authority will be weakened
