Power of the Prime Minister & Cabinet To Dictate Events & Determine Policy (Pre-2000)

When was Harold Wilson PM?

1) 1964-70

2) 1974-76

How did Wilson appear during his first term?

• In tune with public opinion

• At ease on TV

• Technocrat

What did Wilson’s Labour government do?

• Increased welfare spending

• Reformed education system

• Introduced liberal social reforms

• Put its faith in economic planning

How did Wilson reform the education system?

• Encourged local authorities to convert grammar schools to comprehensives

• Established polytechnics

• Established the Open University

Which liberal social reforms were brought in by the Wilson government?

• Divorce Reform Act 1969

• Race relations legislation

• Abolition of the death penalty

• Decriminalisation of private homosexual relations

• Legalisation of abortion up to 24 weeks

What did the Divorce Reform Act 1969 do?

• Made divorce easier

• Introduced the principle of irretrievable breakdown: separation of over 2 years with no fault required to be established

How did the Wilson government put faith in economic planning?

Created the:

• Department for Economic Affairs (short-lived)

• Ministry of Technology

What damaged Wilson’s reputation in his first term?

• 1967: government forced to devalue the pound

• Government proposals for trade union reform shelved after opposition from the Trade Union Congress

• Criticised for focussing on short-term tactics and lacking principles or vision

• Struggled with party management, especially with the left of Labour

What were the difficulties during Harold Wilson’s second term?

• Feb 1974: Formed minority government

• Oct 1954: Won 3 seat majority

• Intra-party divisions

• 1975 EEC referendum included suspension of collective responsibility

• Poor economic performance

• Declining industrial relations

What were the issues with Europe under Wilson?

• Had opposed Macmillan’s failed joining attempt

• 1967: Had own application vetoed again by Charles de Gaulle

• 1974: Labour returned to office with membership but MPs viewed the EEC as a ‘capitalist club’

• Undertook limited renegotiation of membership terms

• Called referendum on remaining

• Unusual to suspend collective responsibility

What was the result of the 1975 EEC referendum?

2:1 in favour of membership

What did political commentators speculate during Wilson’s second term?

Britain was becoming ‘ungovernable’

How is Margaret Thatcher generally viewed?

One of the only 2 agenda-setting postwar prime ministers

→ Pursued monetarism, privatisation and reducing the power of trade unions

What was Thatcher’s relationship with cabinet?

- Less used

- Often began discussions by announcing the government’s policy on an issue

- Kept some issues away from cabinet

- Senior ministers accused her of paying greater attention to advisors

How did Thatcher cement her authority during doubt?

Skilful management of the cabinet early in her premiership

→ e.g. refusal to change monetarist budget of 1981 despite recession

→ Created cabinet of ideological allies

What contributed to Thatcher’s downfall?

- Economic problems

- Unpopular policies

- Cabinet divisions

- Low opinion poll ratings

How did the cabinet system contribute to Thatcher’s resignation?

- Ignoring concerns of ministers

- Bypassing cabinet

→ Alientated colleagues she would ultimately need to rely on

What is a key example of a policy failure under Thatcher?

Poll Tax, introduced in 1990

What was poll tax?

System of local tax whereby each taxpayer was taxed the same fixed sum

→ Replaced system based on property value

What did advocates of poll tax argue?

If every person had to contribute to local services through a flat-rate tax, local authorities would be more pressured to provide them more efficiently

Why was poll tax opposed?

- People who had never had to pay local tax were now paying large sums

- Regressive, taking a higher percentage from the poor than the rich

→ Riots broke out after introduction

→ Councils struggled to administer and collect, with many refusing to pay

How did poll tax reveal failings in the cabinet system?

- Warnings from the chancellor and Treasury were not given due consideration

- Local authorities had not been consulted

- The bill passed without major amendment

How was Tony Blair viewed during his first years in office?

• More dominant than Thatcher

• Had little time for cabinet government

  • Preferred bilateral meetings to agree policy objectives with individual ministers

  • Sofa government

How strong was Blair’s government in his first two terms?

• Big parliamentary majorities

• Strong position in his party

• Largely loyal cabinet

What was the ‘Third Way’?

• Programme of constitutional reform

• Combining free markets economics with social justice

• Modernised the UK state

How did the Blair government bring about constitutional reform?

• Devolution

• House of Lords Act 1999

• New electoral systems

• Supreme Court

• Human Rights Act 1998

How did the Blair government influence devolution?

• 1997: referendums in Scotland and Wales

• 1998:

  • Government of Wales Act

  • Scotland Act

  • Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland Act

What role did Blair himself play in constitutional reform?

• Did not play a great role in policy initiative and design

• Inherited commitments from John Smith (previous Labour leader)

• Not greatly interested

• Regretted introduction of the Freedom of Information Act 2000

• Doubts killed off proposals for:

  • Electoral reform for Westminster

  • Devolution to the English Regions

What role did Blair himself play in the Northern Ireland peace agreements?

• Sidelined secretary of state for NI (Mo Mowlam)

  • MM distrusted by some unionists

• Offered personal guarantees on weapons decommissioning and prisoner releases

What were the problems during Blair’s second term?

• Rebellions by Labor MPs over:

  • Iraq war

  • Foundation hospitals

  • Tuition fees

• Opinion poll ratings fell

• Weakened own authority with announcement of steeping down during third term

What were the policy issues with the invasion of Iraq?

• Blair supported George W. Bush and commit UK forces to the 2003 invasion of Iraw

• Focused on removing WMD despite Bush objective to removed Saddam Hussein

• No WMDs were ever found

• Intelligence reports were later discredited

How did the invasion of Iraq impact Blair?

• Opinion polls registered sharp decline in public trust

• Badly damaged standing in Labour party

• Official reports highly critical of government decisions

  • 2004: Lord Butler: Preference for sofa government had reduced scope for informed collective judgement, with ministers denied access to key papers

  • 2016: Chilcot Report concluded that:

    • Other policy options had not been properly explored

    • Blair had disregarded warnings about intelligence integrity

    • Cabinet had not considered legal advice carefully enough

When did Tony Blair step down?

June 2007