prime minister & the cabinet

role of the pm - government head

• PM is head of government and responsible for the work of all governmental departments

• As government head, the PM creates new departments and government roles, chairs cabinet meetings, decides who is on the cabinet committees, appoints government ministers and is head of the Civil Service

• PM is responsible for the government’s policy agenda and sets national policy

• PM decides which policies should be a priority for the government

role of the pm - party head

• PM is their political party’s leader

• EXAMPLE: Labour leaders are elected under a one-member-one-vote system

• As party leader, the PM must keep the party united, successfully lead their parties in elections, decide party policy and speak at the party conference to party members

role of the pm - decision-maker

• PM makes key decisions which are in the UK’s national security interest, often in times of crisis

• PM chairs the National Security Council’s weekly meetings, which consider the UK’s most important national security issues

• PM responds to national and international crises which affect the UK

  • EXAMPLE: 2020 - Boris Johnson chaired COBRA meetings during the Covid-19 pandemic

role of the pm - international leadership

• PM as commander-in-chief decides whether to deploy British armed forces to any foreign intervention or war

• The PM is involved in overseas engagements, attending international conferences, visiting other countries and working with other state leaders to make international policy

role of the pm - parliament

• The PM leads parliament as the leader of the HoC’s largest party

• As leader of the largest party, the PM answers PMQs and uses the party majority to pass legislation

• The PM organises their party’s majority in parliament to ensure that parliament will pass government policies into law

role of the pm - chief communicator

• The PM communicates with the media and the public on government policy or to explain any issues or decisions of public importance

• The PM communicates with the media in times of crisis to provide citizens with information

• The PM seeks to manage the media through the PM’s Press Office which communicates a positive image of them and the government to the public

pm’s powers - patronage: appoint and dismiss

• The PM can use patronage powers to appoint MPs and peers to ministerial office, including Cabinet roles

• The PM may appoint supporters, promote talented figures, dismiss underperforming ministers or limit rivals

• Appointments and dismissals often occur after a general election or during a Cabinet reshuffle

  • This allows the PM to change the Cabinet and strengthen their authority

strengths of patronage

• Patronage enables the PM to appoint ministers with similar views and policy priorities

• It can increase loyalty, discipline ministers and help secure support in Parliament because promotion can advance political careers

  • EXAMPLE: Starmer moved major figures  across roles in his Cabinet in 2025, shifting figures such as Shabana Mahmood to Home Secretary and Yvette Cooper to Foreign Secretary

factors influencing appointments

• PMs are more likely to appoint ministers who are loyal, competent and politically effective

  • Appointments may be used to balance ideological factions within the party

  • EXAMPLE: Liz Truss filled her 2022 Cabinet with almost exclusively loyal allies who shared her exact political ideology - this eliminated internal Cabinet challenge but ultimately lacked the broader party unity to survive political crisis

• PMs may also seek a Cabinet that appears diverse and representative of voters, in terms of gender, ethnicity, region and experience

  • EXAMPLE: Keir Starmer’s 2026 Cabinet has a 50/50 gender split and over 90% of Cabinet ministers were state-school educated

    • Gender - Rachel Reeves appointment to Chancellor of the Exchequer

    • Race - David Lammy appointment to Foreign Secretary

• Coalition or party management pressures may also influence appointments

pm’s powers - parliament control

• The PM uses their party’s majority to ensure that their policies become law, and has powers to exert control over the law-making process

• PMs appoint a government chief whip, a HoC leader and HoL leader to ensure parliament makes government policies into law

• The chief whip ensures that party members vote in the way that the government wishes

  • MPs who vote on legislation against how they have been instructed by the whip face being disciplined by their party

pm’s powers - heading cabinet

• The PM has authority within the cabinet, with he power to determine the agenda of cabinet meetings and prioritise the policies which they favour

• The PM appoints cabinet members to different cabinet committees which deal with policy decisions

pm’s powers - media influence

• The PM has the power to set the media agenda as they are the main focus, usually being more important to the media than other government ministers

• PM with strong press offices will be able to successfully influence the media so that the media’s agenda is favourable towards them

  • EXAMPLE: Tony Blair hired Alistair Campbell as his press secretary to help set a media agenda that was favourable towards him

pm’s powers - foreign policy power

• The PM can use royal prerogative to declare war and deploy armed forces abroad

• The PM has the power to sign the UK up to foreign treaties

pm’s powers - power over civil service

• The PM has powers to reform the civil service and appoints the most senior civil servants, which ensures civil servants remain loyal and supportive to the PM

limits on the pm’s powers - cabinet

• The Cabinet limits the PM’s power as it is required to approve the PM’s policy decisions, and can overrule the PM

• The PM is, in theory, the ‘First among equals’ (Primus inter pares) in Cabinet, meaning they have equal say to other cabinet members over key policy decision

limits on the pm’s powers - electorate

• The loss of support from voters will end the PM’s time in power, with voters showing their support for the PM at the GE

  • EXAMPLE: Despite winning a landslide majority in 2024, Labour’s popularity fell sharply during 2025-26 - Labour suffered poor local election results, lost significant numbers of council seats, and faced increasing pressure from Reform and Greens, ultimately leading to Keir Starmer’s resignation in 2026

limits on the pm’s powers - parliament

• Parliament limits the PM through voting against government policies and scrutiny

• The PM is held accountable and their actions are scrutinised in weekly PMQs in the HoC

• A vote of no confidence by parliament removes the PM from their position

limits on the pm’s powers - political party

• The PM’s political party limits their power as the PM must maintain the support of their party in order to stay in power

• A PM without support of their party has a weaker position and may be challenged by their cabinet or backbenches to stand down

  • EXAMPLE: in 1990, Thatcher resigned as PM after she was challenged to stand down by members of her own party

limits on the pm’s powers - the media

• The media limits the PM’s power by communicating with the public and influencing public opinion on the PM

• The media can influence public opinion, so it can pressurise the PM over their actions

role of the cabinet - policy maker

• The Cabinet reaches final decisions over government policy

• Government members have to endorse policies in cabinet meetings and reach an agreement

• The Cabinet is needed to legitimise and ratify the PM and government’s policies

• Smaller Cabinet committees of fewer Cabinet ministers carry out a large amount of cabinet work and make recommendations which the full cabinet must approve to become government policy

role’s of the cabinet - coordinates government work

• The Cabinet coordinates the government’s programme of legislation through parliament and prioritises legislation

• The Cabinet organises the weekly agenda in parliament, including addressing backbenchers’ problems and which ministers are due to speak in parliamentary debates

• If the PM loses the support of the Cabinet, they may lose authority and risk resignation or removal

  • EXAMPLE: 2022 - Liz Truss lost Cabinet support after economic turmoil and resigned shortly afterwards

role’s of the cabinet - emergencies

• Cabinets must deal with emergencies and national crises by making quick decisions to address them

• Cabinet deals with domestic emergencies through the COBR (Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms) meeting

  • EXAMPLE: COBR was used during Covid-19 to coordinate social distancing regulations and lockdowns

pm & cabinet - use of pm’s powers

• The use of the PM’s power over the Cabinet will determine the relationship between them and the importance of the Cabinet’s role

• The PM decides what is on the Cabinet’s agenda, chairs Cabinet meetings, and summarises decisions at the end of meetings

• The PM decides how often Cabinet meetings should take place and for how long

pm & cabinet - pm’s use of the cabinet

• PMs using an inner circle of advisers rather than the full Cabinet to make decisions can weaken the Cabinet’s power

• PMs may operate an inner Cabinet or sofa government, which is an informal type of decision-making between the PM and advisers, rather than through the Cabinet

  • EX: Blair’s ‘sofa government’ involved discussing policy in detail with special advisers and his close team

pm & cabinet - cabinet members

• The strength of Cabinet members influences the relationship between the PM and Cabinet

• Strong Cabinet members, with influence in the party, are more difficult for the PM to ignore

pm & cabinet - media focus

• The media’s focus and portrayal of the PM help to determine how strong the PM is

• More media focus on the PM than on the Cabinet gives the PM more authority, as they are the main communicators of government policy to the public

• The media can also weaken the PM’s authority by criticising and undermining them

pm & cabinet - pm’s popularity

• A PM’s popularity among ministers and the public will affect their relationship with the Cabinet

• A more popular and successful PM with voters and Cabinet ministers is likely to have greater control over the Cabinet

• A less popular PM has less support from the Cabinet, leading to ministerial resignations, which damages the public image of the PM and government

presidential government overview

• A presidential government is when an individual (PM) is strong and dominant over the executive

• The key features of a presidential-style government in the UK include a strong PM’s office, a PM with a strong personality and personal leadership, and greater focus on the PM than the Cabinet in the media

presidential government - pm’s office

• The PM’s office is stronger in a presidential style of government, with many special advisers who have more access to the PM than many Cabinet members

presidential government - pm personality

• The PM’s leadership is personalised, with a strong personality that attracts much media attention

  • In personalised leadership, the PM is more likely than the Cabinet to be associated with major policies

• There is personalised leadership in general election campaigns, with the focus on party leaders rather than the party itself

presidential government - foreign policy

• In a presidential style government, the PM has greater control over major foreign policy issues

• A ‘presidential’ PM will take personal control over foreign policy, represent the UK at major global conferences, and make military decisions without consulting much with the Cabinet or Parliament

application of presidential government to uk

• The PM has many limits on their power from their party, Cabinet and Parliament

• PMs can be removed from office by party pressure of through a vote of no confidence in Parliament

• The PM’s style determines whether they are presidential, as some PMs choose to use the Cabinet far more than others for key decision making

cabinet government overview

• In a Cabinet government, the PM is ‘first among equals’, meaning they have relatively equal decision-making power over policy with other Cabinet ministers

• A Cabinet government has a more collegial style where government policy is collectively decided by Cabinet members

• The Cabinet helps decide government strategy, including managing major business in Parliament such as upcoming votes on government bills

thatcher’s cabinet overview

• Thatcher had power for much of her time as PM when she had a large majority from the electorate and was popular among voters meaning she was a powerful PM with influence over the cabinet

• Thatcher targeted ministers she viewed as weak calling them ‘wet’ and choosing to sack many ministers who opposed her

• A lack of support from cabinet colleagues weakened Thatcher’s power and brought an end to her time as PM

thatcher’s policy control

• Thatcher’s ministers were consulted far less on policy, with ministers not knowing about certain policies until they read about them in newspapers

• Thatcher had a strong influence over many government policies, such as the ‘poll tax’ and laws over industrial relations

• Thatcher chose to bypass the cabinet by using cabinet committees to discuss policies

major’s cabinet overview

• Major had less power and control over his cabinet as PM from 1990-97

• His power was limited by a small party majority in Parliament after the 1992 general election

• The cabinet had more power under Major because he ran the cabinet by seeking cabinet consensus when making important decisions

major’s policy control

• Major was seen as slow to make decisions as a leader and unable to make up his mind over key policy issues

• Cabinet ministers under Major were able to have greater control over policy than under other PMs

blair’s cabinet overview

• Blair downgraded cabinet meetings, choosing to take part in smaller meetings with ministers outside of the cabinet and meetings with his special advisers

• Blair reduced the length of meetings from 2 hours to 45 minutes

blair’s policy control

• Blair made policy decisions on key issues without consulting his cabinet

  • Blair informed the cabinet over the decision to transfer exchange rates to the Bank of England

• Blair took personal control over departmental parliament affairs

  • Blair took control over the Northern Ireland peace process

blair’s leadership

• Blair aimed to create more focus on his personality and personal leadership than on cabinet

• Blair focused heavily on using the media, particularly for strong communication as part of the campaign

  • Blair insisted that all contact with media by ministers was cleared with his office in advance

david cameron’s coalition

• David Cameron’s coalition government saw more power for the cabinet, as Cameron had to seek Liberal Democrat agreement over key policies

  • Cameron was prevented from introducing tougher policies on people cheating the welfare benefits system because he required consensus from the Lib Dems in his cabinet

• The 2010 cabinet after the general election included 5 Lib Dem MPs, including Vince Cable, Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander, who limited Cameron’s power as PM