Politics: UK prime minister and cabinet
roles of the core executive
1)Making policy
2)Passing legislation
3)Being the first national responder
prerogative powers of the prime minster
1)Ability to call an early general election
2)Decide policy
3)Ability to award honour not least life peerages
4)Patronage powers
5)deployment of uk armed forces overseas
factors affecting policy making
1)oucome of referendums
2)deals with minority/coalition parties
3)responses to national crises and emergency situations
cabinet committee
1)enables more effiecient decision making
2)focus on key policy areas
AO3- decisions at committee level are often rubber-stamped...
powers of the cabinet/checks on the prime minister
1)Ministers run their own departments....
2)Links with media...
3)resign to their own accord
4)refuse to be moved in cabinet reshuffles
factors that explain how pm select their cabinet #
1)qualities of individuals
2)need for diversity
3)ideological balance
constraints on power of prime minister
1)constraint of passing legislation - house of lords
2)backbench rebellions
individual responsibility
Requirement that all ministers are responsible for their own actions in public office
Collectove responsibility
requires all minsters to support and defend government policy in public. without collectove responsibility, governments would appear as chaotic and openely divided. Ministers who cannot in good conscience accept government policy should resign.
Collective responsibility - suspended/undermined
- 1975 and 2016 - eu refs over britains continued membership of eu
- 2016 government's plans to build 3rd runway
- 2011 av referendum
Collective responsibility can also be undermined by non-attrinutable ministerial leaks...
ministerial resignations
1)accepting the blame for error within department - dugdale
2)unwillinness to accept collectove responsibility over policy - sir ian smith & robin cook
3)personal misconduct - priti patel
prime minsiters powers to determine policy making - 1990 poll tax
- Long standing conservative policy to reform local government taxation and end domestic rates
- domestic rates - property based tax that helped funf local councils, taxed homes regardless of number of residents or level of income
- poll tax was a flat rate tax payable by nearly all adults, very much a pet policy of thatcher = demonstrates how pm able to personally dictate policy
- however when it began to unravel she had no policial cover, people refuded to pay new tax as charges on relatvely small houses went up and accused of saving the rich money and moving expenses onto poor.
- mass protests including violent tax riots
- many of thatcher's mps disliked policy, growing opposition = key in leadership challenge
- failed to secure enough votes on first ballot and resigned
- new pm john major, replaced poll tax with council tax - property based tax similar to poll
what does it show overall.....
prime ministers powers to determine policy making - Iraq 2003
- blair approached by pres g.w.b to commit troops to us -led incasion of iraq - blair obliged
- blair justified decison on ground of removal of wpd, victory and iraq dictatot saddam hussein removed
- but iraq descended into bloody civil war, allegations of human right abuses committed by british soldiers on iraq civilians/prisoners
- large anti war protests and opinion polls showed a slump in public trust in blair
- high profile resignations robin cook further weakened his position
prime ministers powers to determine policy making - dealing with covid 19 pandemic 2020-2021
- pandemic = unprecedented challenges for nation, johnson governemnt
- government forced to borrow billions to fund for costs of furlough scheme, emergency loans for worse affected business and increases in benefits - univeral credit = added strain on nhs due to hospitalisations and vaccine roll out
- policy heavily influneced by medical experts - members of sage committee, questions answered by scientist chris whitty.
Outcomes:
early stages - track and trace system was considered shambolic - lack of prep
later stages - e.g. vaccine roll out proved more successful, bans on large gatherings and covid mask lifted by 2021 summer, although restriction reintroduced in late 2021 due to omicron, but relaxed in early 2022.
Allegations that pm attended parties - partygate, led to drop in cons support, pmq - david davis, vote of no confidence
powers of prime minster/accusations of presidentialism
prseidential - concentration of personal executive powers and decline of more collegoate cabinet government = role of pm has morphed into more autocratic figure
- patronage powers - pm can fire and hire ministers without apporaval
- authority over cabinet - pm can decide agenda and chair proceedings
- personal powers help pm dominated - polical capital = main ingredient in earnign trust to follow a leader due to previous achievements....
no presidentialism
- prime minister downfalls e.g. may and windrush scandal & lack of support over brexit positions. also lizz truss and her failure of mini budget proposal of tax cuts = pound drop to all time low, sacking chancellor kwasi kwarteng
- coalition government = not a sign of presidentialism
- in foreign policy, miliatary intervention requires commons to approve - not always the case - cameron first attempt to launch air strikes agaisnt syria