PM and cabinet

what is spatial leadership

president surrounds themselves with only a few key advisors and is seen to be above their party

ways in which pms are becoming more like presidents

increasing media presence

some pms distance themselves from cabinet

Spads

what are prerogative powers

once belonged to the monarch but have now been handed over to the pm

examples of prerogative powers

-commanding armed forces

-dissolve or prorougue parliament

-power to dismiss ministers

-control over civil service

how did majority and party unity impact may

-lack of majority meant she had to rely on DUP

-party divided over brexit (ERG)

-many factions within her party

how did media impact may

-her campaign centred around her rather than her party

42% approval rating at 2017 election

didn't want to meet with public during campaign

2 big beasts in mays cabinet

johnson and davis

chequers deal

-july 2018

-brexit deal

-johnson and davis both quit saying it wasn't the deal they’d been promised

how many votes was mays deal rejected by

rejected by 230 votes

118 tory rebelled

may approval rating at end of her time in office

-49%

three branches of the executive

-the PM

-junior ministers

-the civil service

role of the executive

-proposing legislation

-proposing a budget

-making policy decisions

example of prerogative power

thatcher sent a task force to ‘liberate’ the falkland islands from argentine occupation

characteristics of a big beast

-significant power base within the party

-influential players in any future power struggle

-public standing

-attract media attention

-possess political leverage

-would cause damage if resigned / hard to fire

what are spads

-advise and support government ministers

-employed by the political party

-not politically neutral

-cause tension with cabinet ministers who feel they are not politically neutral

what are civil servants

-non political and neutral

-gather info and research policy

-around 4000 senior civil servants

what are junior ministers

100-120 mps on gov payroll

-report to their department and do not attend cabinet

3 examples of current cabinet members

angela rayner (deputy PM)

rachel reeves (chancellor)

wes streeting (minister for health care)

what is IMR

gov ministers taking responsibility for their departments actions as well as their own

what is CMR

gov ministers have to publicly support all gov decisions

example of CMR

lord agnew resigned as he felt the gov was failing to adequately deal with fraudulent complaints by companies for covid relief

brexit cmr example

36 gov ministers resigned from mays cabinet as they could not support her deal

davis resigned after may announced her chequers deal

strengths of cmr

can be suspended for an issue which goes beyond party politics

reinforces the strength of gov

encourages debate to happen behind closed doors

limits of cmr

harder to maintain

some ministers are too powerful to sack and can ignore cmr

based on convention so cannot be adequately scrutinised

cabinet in the thatcher years

-kitchen cabinet

-enforced her new right vision through her cabinet

-presidential cabinet and dominated her cabinet

-had an inner circle in her cabinet as she tried to quash opposition

who were the ‘wets’ in thatcher years

challenged thatcher

opposed her more tough policies such as public spending cuts

key challengers to thatcher

Micheal Hesseltine

geoffrey Howe (his resignation as deputy PM in 1990 seen as the moment that brought about her premiership)

tony blair cabinet style

decisions taken in his office -known as ‘the den’

worked with a small group of like-minded thinkers

sofa government

lack of minuted meetings prevented scrutiny

presidential

cabinet often fully bypassed

blair and spads

had 21 special advisors by 1999

campbell present at cabinet meetings

spads taking away the power of the gov

tony blair big beasts

gordan brown

unable to be bypassed

single handedly blocked blair from joining the euro

had a huge following within the party - ‘brownites’

could not be fired or reshuffled

how many spads did cameron have

81 for gov total

19 personal

cameron style

meets with cabinet 2 hours per week

‘the quad’

coronation and unity between the leaders before each cabinet meeting

example of cameron giving his party autonomy

allowed ian duncan smith to introduce universal credit

3 recent big beasts

john Prescott

angela rayner

gordon brown

what does primus inter pares mean

first among equals

what 9 things define a pm

majority

cabinet

legacy

party unity

charisma and personality

strength of opposition

events

media

getting things done

IMR example

amber rudd retired from the home office over the wind rush scandal

83 immigrants wrongly deported with a wider target to deport 10% of immigrants

resigned as her department presided over the error

IMR not upheld example

Gavin Williamson gave approval for ‘centre assessed grades’ system to mark gases during covid, failed massively yet he was supported by johnson and didnt have to resign

how do IMR and CMR depend on the PM

they are simply conventions, so it is up to the pm whether or not they choose to uphold them

what changes has Starmer made to the ministerial code

allowed the Independent Advisor on Ministerial Standards to launch investigations independently - seen when Rayner resigned in Sept 2025 after the ethics advisor found she had breached ministerial code by underpaying on stamp duty

when have civil servants been blamed rather than IMR being enacted

head of Ofqual Sally Collier resigned following the failure of the exams algorithm in 2020

Secretary of State for education Gavin Williamson didn’t resign

why did Dominic raab resign

IMR

resigned in April 2023 after allegations of bullying and mistreatment of staff from over 20 civil servants

sunak failed to force raab to resign immediately but instead set up an inquiry into the allegations, which were found to be true and raab resigned

johnson ignoring IMR

2022 partygate scandal

Johnson misled Parliament about the parties but didn’t resign

may 2022 changed the ministerial code to weaken the rules on IMR so that ministers who breached the code were no longer expected to resign

arguments that IMR is no longer important

dependent on ministers to resign

dependent on the PM to enforce the code

near complete breakdown of IMR under Johnson

arguments that IMR remains important

can be seen to have regained its importance

Starmer has stated his intention to hold ministers to the code strongly

what are the exceptions to CMR

free votes (often on controversial or sensitive issues) e.g. 2024 starmer allowed a free vote on the Terminally Ill Adults Bill

referendums e.g. Cameron suspended CMR on the European issue during the 2016 eu referendum

limits to CMR

big beasts

ministers ‘leaking’ their dissatisfaction to the media

ideological disunity in the party e.g. May’s gov

anneliese Dodd’s CMR resignation

resigned as International Development Minister over Starmer’s decision to cut the international aid budget by almost 50%

significant resignation of a high profile minister

robin cook’s CMR resignation

Leader of the House

resigned in 2003 in opposition to Blair’s decision to invade Iraq

johnson not upholding CMR

foreign sec in May’s gov

consistently leaked his dissatisfaction with gov policy and briefed against May

may’s weakness and Johnson’s popularity meant she was unable to sack him

is CMR still important

no: breaks down when the PM is weak and the gov is divided

yes: ministers rarely speak out against gov, allows PM to control their party

PM and votes

Blair only lost 4 votes in his 10 years as PM

since WW2 over 99% of votes have been won by gov

Starmer has yet to face a defeat

Johnson dominating cabinet through sacking ministers

when he became PM in July 2019 he sacked over half of May’s cabinet - this created his own cabinet that was highly supportive of his Brexit strategy

September 2019 removed the whip from 21 mps after they voted against the gov to block a no-deal Brexit

may struggling to dominate cabinet

appointed a cabinet that balanced both brexiteers and remainers

made her struggle to enforce CMR - Johnson frequently criticised gov policy

how many spads does Starmer have

July 2025 - 130

42 working directly in number 10

Johnson losing support of cabinet

in July 2022 Johnson was forced to resign after over 50 gov ministers resigned within 48 hours