PRIME MINISTER AND EXECUTIVE CONTENT

Executive

Is the government - sits within the legislature

How does the executive govern the nation

• introduces proposals for legislation to parliament based on their manifesto

• Introduces a budget proposing how the government will raise revenue. Presented in autumn and is written by the chancellor and PM

• May introduce secondary or delegated legislation - already existing legislation which the government can modify without the need to introduce new legislation

Powers of the PM

• exercises the ROYAL PEROGATIVE (executive power of the monarchy eg command of armed forces). These powers are transferred to the PM as the UK is a constitutional monarchy

• Determines membership of the government, including cabinet

• Makes senior appointments to civil service and judiciary

• Recommends most appointments of life peers to HoL

• Negotiates foreign treaties

• Directs military forces

• Decides whether to activate UK’s Trident nuclear deterrent

Role of government departments

• manage particular area of government and develop policy

• Cabinet members are generally in charge of departments ( eg Treasury, home office, transport)

Role of the civil service

• relied on by government departments for support

  • Defined by the principles of neutrality, anonymity, and permanence, meaning civil servants should provide impartial advice, to any governemnt, on policy development and implementation

  • Therefore not expected to be held accountable for the actions of a department

Cabinet

• consists of 20-25 senior government ministers who head departments of state

• Bounded by principle of collective ministerial responsibility

Roles of cabinet

• Provides key forum in which government policy is legitimised (maintains government unity)

• Determine key policy issues

• Decide how government will determine business

How is the cabinet chosen

• party unity is vital so pm may choose to balance their cabinet to avoid alienating certain parts of their party

  • Eg Theresa mays cabinet: amber rudd remain voter and Boris Johnson leave voter

  • Tony Blair’s deputy PM john Prescott was from the working class-left of the Labour Party, which reassured the public that new labour had not entirely abandoned its socialist ideology

  • Contrast: Boris Johnson only appointed cabinet members who shared his political ideology

• Coalitions restrict the pms right to appoint

  • In 2010, Cameron had to appoint nick clegg as deputy PM and give Lib Dem’s 5 out of the 22 seats in cabinet as part of the coalition agreement

Cabinet government

• a type of government in which the cabinet plays a key role in the development of policy

• It provides a direct contrast to the prime-ministerial model of government

Prime ministerial government

• a model of government in which the prime minister is dominant and the cabinet is relegated to a subordinate decision making role

How significant is the cabinet?

• according to Walter bagehot, the cabinet is the “most powerful body in the state”, and the prime minister is first among equals

• UK has a system mainly of prime-ministerial government rather than cabinet government

PM and their cabinet

• every PM will approach cabinet differently depending on character and political circumstances

• PMs who value debate and want to achieve consensus are more likely to utilise cabinet carefully

• PMs with small parliamentary majorities and ideologically divided parties need to consult cabinet to maintain party unity

Arguments the cabinet plays a central role in government

• during political crisis the PM needs to discuss options open to them

  • Boris Johnson in December 2021 consulted his cabinet on the spread of the omicron variant of Covid

  • April 2018 Theresa may called an urgent meeting to discuss a military response to the Syrian governments presumed use of chemical weapons

  • Russia invading Ukraine 2022 Johnson also called an emergency cabinet meeting

• PM depends on cabinet support to remain in power

  • After sacking her chancellor, kwasi kwarteng, liz truss was exposed to the shock resignation of her Home Secretary Suella braverman, and announced her resignation as PM the next day (20 October 2022)

Arguments the cabinet does not play a significant role in government

• the UK has a more prime ministerial model of government with strong PMs where the cabinet only reviews already exiting policies elsewhere

  • Theresa may 2017 called a snap election without consulting her cabinet, and her manifesto was overseen with no cabinet involvement

• Growing influence of political advisors - cabinet meets once a week whereas political advisors have constant access to the PM

Arguments the PM is the dominant force in UK politics

• policy unit and cabinet office report directly to the PM

• Determines main policy objectives of government (eg Boris Johnson and Brexit, increased defence spending, levelling up)

• Cabinet selected by PM, and their careers are heavily influenced by actions of the PM, giving the PM significant patronage power

• Media spotlight is focused on the PM eg Boris Johnson

• Decides crucial intelligence and military issues, and national crises such as Covid

Arguments the PM is not the dominant force in UK politics

• can only be dominant in certain circumstances

  • Theresa may - lack of a parliamentary majority (2017-19) and intense divisions over Europe, also lack of charisma made it hard for her to control the political agenda

  • David Cameron in a coalition government had to agree on certain policies

  • Boris Johnson lacked parliamentary support needed to achieve his EU withdrawal agreement in 2019