prime minister and the executives

what year did thatcher win her first election

1979

powers and limits of pm in parliament

strong majority increases the pm's chances of passing laws and more flexibility to appoint peers (like starmer)vote of no confidence, power to appoint peers limits in house of lords restrict pm's control over parliament (like may/truss)

what are ministers expected to do within their department

plan their department's speding in the form of a department budgetchancellor of the exchequer produces the overall budget for the whole of uk which must be voted by the parliamentnegotiations between chancellor and ministers can be difficult when deciding the spending limit of each department

successes and failures of blair

iraq war led to his unpopularityempethetic to diana's death boosted his imagesplitting power with brown lead to blair's power as pm being reduced (like when joining the euro, brown refused)won 3 elections

examples of when the prerogative powers were used

In 2018 PM Theresa May sent British fighter jets to carry out airstrikes on Syria in response to the regime’s use of chemical weapons without Parliament’s approval.After the London Bridge terror attack and an explosion on a tube train in 2017, PM Theresa May used prerogative emergency powers to raise the UK’s terror threat level to critical.

rishi sunak's main attribute when selecting cabinet ministers

members of different wings, wanted to unite the conservatice party after trussclevery & wallonace were truss supporters

what is payroll vote and what does it do

parliamentary private secretaries (assist ministers, and whips) that are paid extra for their government jobs, and obliged to vote for government policy in parliament

powers and limits to the pm over the international area

it gives the pm power to attract more support from other countries (like starmer)some are beyond the pm's control which can make the pm lose power, or their decisions within the international area may be hated by the public (like may/blair)

evdence which shows that pm lack control over the cabinet

may: lack of diversity (only 1 girl and 1 ethnic minority), jeremy hunt was offered another job but he rejected it - he got it his way because may couldn't rise getting opponentsblair: sharing power with brown prevented joining the euro

minister resiging because they disagreed with government policy

david davis & boris johnson - not agreeing with may's brexit (wanted a hard brexit)robin cook - not agreeing with blair's iraq wardodds - disagreeing with starmer's foregin aid spending reduction

a minister resigning/being sacked for breaking the ministerial code and/or making serious error of judgement in their personal/professional conduct

matt hancok - breaching guideliness and kissingsuella braverman - offiensive criticisms

prime ministerial leadership style (describe the leadership of the pm)

thatcher: doer, activist, outsider, dominant, bullyblair: powerful image, strong, controlling, fair, dictatorial, formidablejohnson: contradictive, clown, unfit, fun, desheveled, chaotic, scruffy, watchfulstarmer: absent, effective, wooden, serious, underwhelming, ruthlesstruss: useless, impetient, dishonestsunak: competent, loser, apoliticalcameron: presidential, polishedmay and brown: controlling, fearful, cautious

when and why did blair win first time

won in 1997 with a majority of 179promised to invest in public services, devolution, peace in ireland, bank of england independence, minimum wage, empathy towards diana

ministers failing to resign despite voting against government policy

stephen barkley

what does a prime minister's advisor do and examples

unelected advisors and political strategists, who work at downing street (no 10)examples include blair's director of communication campbell, which helped blair get the most of his media attention to boost popularity

examples of minister resigning for misleading parliament

amber rudd - she lied to the parliament about the deportation targets, saying that she didn't set a target, but behind closed doors, she did

a minister resiging for a failure of their department despite it not being their fault

lord carrington - thatcher declaring war on falklands

when did the poll tax, inflation, increased intrest rates, and howe resign

1990

what are spads

temporary civil servant who advises and assists government ministers

why did major's reputation get damaged

he couldn't manage the 1992 black wednesday economic crisis

when did thatcher defeat the national unions of mineworkers and begin her privatisation

in her second term of office - 1984

why/how did thatcher resign

after howe resigned, heseltine challanged thatcher to a leadership contestmajor beats heseltine after thatcher resigned becuase she was told she couldn't make it

what does prerogative mean

the special rights the monarch gives to the prime minister

why did howe resign from thatcher's government

howe resigns over europe

when and why did thatcher win her third election

1987economy boomed, privatisation, deregulation, union reform, and income tax cuts

name a time where induvidual ministers blamed the other department for their actions

2011, may (home secretary) blamed the uk border force (clark) for weak border checks

what year was the falklands war and britain began to emerge out of a recession

1982

when did blair go to war with iraq and context as to what happened in public and parliament

20031 million protestors against the war (largest in british history for anti war)opposittion from the party with cook resigning and backbencher rebellionblair still wins a parliamentary vote to continiue with the intervention

why did thatcher win her second election

the falklands war gave her a good reputationdivided opposition

when and why did blair win his second term

with a majority of 166 in 2001thriving economy, stopped the kosovo genocide, helped usa in the 9/11 attacks, spent billions on health and education and welfare

who got brexit done, defeated by their own party, outed by their own cabinet, controlled by political advisor (cummings)

johnson

a minister failing to resign despite apparently misleading parliament

johnson - partygate scandal, lied to parliament about there being no party in no10 when infact there was

what is cabinet committee and what does it do

group of relevant ministers which are focused on specific areas of policy they make decisions based on their department

powers and limits the pm has over the public

the public gives the pm the democratic mandate (like all pm)referendums and bad reputation (unpopularity) can get the pm kicked out (like cameron and sunak)

role of the executive

responding to problems and crises, managing finance, keeping law and order, developing government policies, introduce new laws, foreign policy, defence

difference between primary and secondary legislation (with examples for secondary)

primary are government bills which are voted and passed by parliamentsecondary are bills/laws from the cabinet ministers which parlaiment cannot ammend nor accept - only reject (its rare to reject)example: increase in nhs charges for dentistry, amended exemptions for charges, and extended the range of dental procedures avaible on the nhs

a minister not resiging despite things going badly wrong in their departments

gavin williamson - giving wrong grades to students

what was johnson's main attribute when looking for ministers

loyalty, he wanted all the ministers to be brexiteersall of his cabinet supported brexit (like sunak)

what are civil servants and what are they expected to do

expected to be politically neutral and to advise on, and implement, policies of whichever party holds powereach department has a permanant secretary - a civil servant in charge of running the department

examples of core executives

advisors, spads, cabinet office, civil servants, payroll vote, junior ministers, cabinet committee, and cabinet ministers

kier starmer's main attribute when selecting cabinet ministers

expertiserachel reeves - worked at the bank of england, and now is chancellordavid lammy - educated at harvard

examples which show that the pm controls the cabinet

johnson: javid resigns as a power struggle, he rejected the new terms of emplyement and had all his advisors sacked for leaking info, later appointing sunak - this shows that the pm has the power of patronange of firing anyonethatcher: not doing as cabinet suggests pm can: control agenda, control the meetings, control the office/no10/civil sevants, control over cabinet committies, and collective resonsibility

successes and failures of thatcher

monetarism led to high unemplyment but low inflationright to buy policy gave her popularity since wc families could now buy council housesminer's strike led to break of union power, collapse of manual jobs, and massive job lossprivatisation of industries (like british gas) led to job loss and higher priceswc got poorer due to job loss and cuts to social programmespoll tax charged everyone the same amount which led to riotsfalklands war led to increase in her popularity

powers and limits of party to pm

the party legitimises the role of the pm as the leader, and it gives the leader support (like starmer)the party can trigger a vote of no confidence to overthrow the leader (like may)

a minister not being sacked/resiging despite breaking the ministerial code

priti patel - bullying her workers

successes and failures of boris johnson

got brexit donepartygatecovidletting ministers off the hook

who appoints the junior ministers and what do they do

appointed by the pm to each departmenthave particular areas of responsibility (eg the department of transport has a junior minister with responsiblity for railway)

nicknamed the iron man, populariy boosted by war, popularity sank as soon as gaining power

starmer

what is collective ministeral responsibility

all the members of the government's payroll vote is expected to defend government policy in public and vote for it in parliamentalthough they can disagree with the government in private, those thay publically disagree are expected to resignthis is done to show the country that the government is a united front

what is prerogative power

when the monarch appoints the new prime ministerbasically giving power to the prime minister over foreign policy, over appointments (eg of peers and ministers), and over parliament

what are spads and what do they do

special advisorssomewhat similar to civil servants but they can be politically biasedministers and junior ministers rely on both spads and civil servants

who appoints the cabinet ministers and what do they do

appointed by the pmin charge of government departments

what is induvidual ministerial responsibility

minister's duty to be accountable to parliament for policies, decisions and actions of their department, give accurate and truthful information to parliament, and justify their actions and conduct to parliament and the publicbreaking the ministerial code means resignation - however its not legally binding but up to the pm to decide

who governed by sofa politics, introduced devolution, human rights act, reformed the house of lords and was defeated by a wing of their party

blair

what is government agency

citizen's first point of contact with the executive (eg the dvla)or other public bodies (eg the nhs)these bodies have some autonomy in deciding how to carry out policies decided by the core executive

powers and limits of media on pm

media can be used to attract public support (johnson)madia can also be used to scrutinise the pm (like sunak and johnson)

powers and limits the pm have over the cabinet

having power over the cabinet allows the pm to take control of the country losing the cabinet's support makes the pm look bad and therefore lose power (like with blair and may)

who enjoyed arguing, won 3 elections, had popularity boosted by war, introduced right to buy, privatisation, reduced union power, and had popularity undermined by bad policy (poll tax)

thatcher