Evaluate The View That Prime Ministers Are Able To Dominate The Cabinet.

Introduction

Cabinet = the Prime Minister and senior ministers, most of whom lead a particular government department

Paragraph Focus

• Para 1 = Power of Patronage

• Para 2 = Cabinet in Decision Making

• Para 3 = Popularity and Support

Para 1 - Weaker Argument = Do not Dominate

• Theresa May, for example, appointed a cabinet with a balance between Brexiteers (including Boris Johnson and David Davis) and Remainers (including Phillip Hammond and Jeremy Hunt).

• this shows PM may not dominate cabinet as there are limits to which they can appoint allies who will be easily managed

• this means the PM may have to sacrifice loyalty and authority in divided parties, in order to represent different factions

Para 1 - Stronger Argument = Dominate

• eg. Sept 2025 Keir Starmer carried out a major cabinet reshuffle following Angela Rayner’s resignation as Deputy Prime Minister including David Lammy as Justice Minister and Deputy Prime Minister

• this examples highlights how the PM is able to dominate cabinet through the power of patronage

• this means that the PM is able to enforce collective ministerial responsibility and build a unified government

• by appointing allies, the PM can effectively drive their legislative agenda through parliament and prevent gridlock eg. Employment Rights Act 2025 was royal assent in December

Para 2 - Weaker Argument = Do not Dominate

• eg. At a National Security Council in March 2026, Starmers proposal to grant the US permission to use British bases in strikes against Iran was blocked by cabinet

• this shows how the PM power is constrained by cabinet government when a PM is politically unpopular

• This leads to the Prime Minister still relying on cabinet ministers to run their departments, whilst relying on cabinet decision making to settle key disputes and pass policies

Para 2 - Stronger Argument = Dominate

• the Prime Minister is able to dominate their cabinet is that they can bypass the cabinet when determining government policy through informal committees

• Prime Ministers have more control in smaller forums and it is easier to reach a compromise with one or two key ministers than the whole cabinet

• As a consequence, they often use smaller cabinet committees, such as the National Security, bi-lateral meeting with ministers and informal groups to make decisions, shunning the cabinet.

• Under Tony Blair, he and Chancellor Gordon Brown negotiated with each other to determine economic policy

• Blair often used bi-lateral meetings with important ministers to determine policy on a particular area, as he felt he could use them to talk ministers around to his view.

Para 3 - Weaker Argument = Do not Dominate

• eg. Nov 2025 IPSOS poll recorded that Starmer had a net favourability rating of -66, making him the least popular PM on record, and since then there has been threats to his leadership eg. Health Secretary West STreeting

• this shows the PM’s dominance over the cabinet is highly dependent on public popularity

• making

Para 3 - Stronger Argument = Dominate

• Prime Ministers are able to dominate their Cabinets is by developing personal popularity with the public, which they can use to drive through policy and dominate government

• The Prime Minister can use the media and their personal popularity to reach out to the public and create a level of personal support that can allow them to determine and drive through policy.

• This has been aided by the growth of television and social media, as well as TV debates between leaders becoming key fixtures of campaigns and media coverage of politics often focusing on leaders.

• Tony Blair was very successful in courting support from the right-wing press and developing his personal image.

• Due to his very high popularity at the start of his premiership, he was able to determine a lot of government policy himself, for example in health and education, where there was a lot of centralised control