Role of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

From sofa government to cabinet government From Prime Ministerial to Presidential

Week 4 Joy Johnson

Andrew Marr (part of his documentary series)

• Powerful Prime Minister brought down by her own Ministers and MPs – she had become an electoral liability

• Europe was the catalyst but it was the unpopularity of the poll tax and subsequent riots in the streets of London that spread fear among her MPs that they would lose their seats.

Reading

• Key texts Morrison Essential Public Affairs for Journalists ch 3

• Anthony King The British Constitution• Andrew Rawnsley The End of the Party• Steve Richards Whatever it Takes• Tony Wright, Doing Politics (former Labour MP –

acknowledged expert on Parliament and its institutions.

• Hugo Young One of Us

Royal prerogative (PM has authority by the sovereign)

• Appoint cabinet members and fellow ministers• Chair Cabinet meetings• Keep the sovereign informed• Declare war and peace • Recommend passage of Bills to Royal Assent• Recommend dissolution and prorogation of Parliament• Draw up Queen’s speech (usually from contents of the

manifesto)• Recommend appointments• Recommend honours• Answer for policies at PMQ’s, make statements to the House

Power of the Prime Minister and the relationship with the cabinet

• Prime Ministers are ‘inter pares’ – first among equals• No 10 Downing Street• Official residence Chequers• Elected as MP with the responsibilities that entails• Leader of the party• Becomes Prime Minister (we don’t elect a PM)• Recent powerful (but still limited) PMs have led to

the accusation that the system has become more presidential

PM other roles

• Has the distinct title of Minister for Civil Service (serviced by the Cabinet Office)

• First Lord of the Treasury

Role of the PM

• Appoints a cabinet (Political juggling acts) • Is coalition making the juggling harder (?)• Chairs meetings of the Cabinet

Tony Blair stands down

• Tony Blair leaves to cheers from his Ministers and MPs but he was forced to stand down before his time

Margaret Thatcher & her Cabinet

• Broke with tradition• Respected tradition, Parliament and cabinet

government• “She suffered defeats in early years of her premiership,

but, once the Tory wets and other tiresome dissidents were out of the way, her style became progressively more imperious and less collegial”. King p 324.

• Thatcher unlike Blair took her seat in the Chamber and stayed to hear ‘personal statements’ even those who were hostile

Thatcher’s style of governing

• According to one of her most fervent admirers Nicholas Ridley; “She was Prime Minister, she knew what wanted to do, and she didn’t believe her policies should be subject to being voted down by a group she had selected to advise and assist her”. King p 325

British Prime Minister flanked by his Chancellor and Deputy PM

Margaret Thatcher

• Forced out of office by her own side• http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00zdhw

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Tony Blair – decisions made outside Cabinet

• Blair’s first Cabinet secretary Robin Butler said; “From the start the proceedings were very informal. Tony Blair wasn’t interested in setting an agenda and working through the items...cabinet ministers were not encouraged to raise issues themselves.” Rawnsley p 64

Collective responsibility

• Ministers bound by collective responsibility if they disagree traditionally resign i.e. Robin Cook former Labour Foreign Secretary over the war in Iraq

Cook’s resignation statement

• http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7345986942222242060#

Chilcot inquiry – evidence from Lord Prescott – Blair’s sofa government

Trusted confidantesas opposed to collective responsibility

• Kitchen Cabinet• Sofa government • Not always Ministerial colleagues i.e. For Blair,

Alistair Campbell (Press Secretary), (had to leave when he became the story); Jonathan Powell, Chief of Staff (played significant role in Good Friday agreement)

• Thatcher , Charles Powell Foreign Adviser; Bernard Ingham, Press Secretary (close but not as close as recent communication chief Alistair Campbell)

Trusted confidantes

• Cameron, Andy Coulson, Press Secretary (had to leave when he became the story), Craig Oliver new Press Secretary;

• Steve Hilton, Director of Strategy up sticks and went to the States (still in touch)

• Not restricted to these positions

Prime Minister and his cabinet colleagues

• Blair/Brown turbulent relationship but both architects of ‘New Labour’

• Cameron/Osborne closer and friendlier than Blair/Brown (but mutterings from the side lines)

• Oliver Letwin policy chief Cabinet Office Minister

• Close to Hague• Theresa May (being talked up as a successor)

Spin doctors becoming the story

• Campbell – dodgy dossier• Coulson former News of the World editor –

phone hacking scandal• Cameron’s judgement called into question

over Coulson’s appointment

Tensions can exist

Presidential style

• By-passing and or downgrading the role of the Cabinet in devising policy

• Announcing policies to the media before announcing them to Parliament

• Ignoring popular opinion and protest • Grandstanding on the international stage

Holding the PM to account• PM have great power and need to be held to account• Public (elected as an MP)• Press (allies and foes)• Parliament (question time) also twice yearly Commons Liaison

Committee made up of chairs of the select committee question the PM – Blair’s backbenchers frequently rebelled (the official opposition was weak)

• Votes of No Confidence (James Callaghan Labour PM was defeated in 1979 on a no confidence vote)

• (fixed terms P’ment (would still allow for vote of no confidence but highly unlikely) unforeseen consequence – rebellions hold little fear of a vote of no confidence

• Party (Thatcher always had the support of her party, Blair did not)

PM power – support and constraintsDorey – Policy making in Britain

• Enhancing power• Large parliamentary majority• Unified cabinet• Recent gen election victory• High opinion poll ratings• Competence and integrity of

ministerial colleagues• Clear objectives and strategy• Supportive media• Strong, stable economic situation• International crisis, well handled• Weak, ineffective Opposition

• Constraining power• Small parliamentary majority• Divided cabinet• Division among backbenchers• Mid term blues• Low opinion poll ratings• Incompetence or scandals involving

ministerial colleagues• Limited grasp of policy details• Recession/economic crisis• International crisis, poorly-handled• Strong, credible Opposition• Party• Press• public

Variables of PM power

• “His or her power varies from time to time according to the extent their Cabinet colleagues permit them to have that power, depending on whether the Cabinet is split, depending also on the strength of the Government majority in the House of Commons and also popular opinion in the electorate and attitudes in the Party”.

(Sir Richard Wilson former Cabinet Secretary giving evidence to the Public Accts Committee 2002 as quoted in Dorey)

TV debates during general election

• Adds to Presidential style

Cabinet ranking

• Cabinet – 3 great offices of state:• Chancellor of the Exchequer; Foreign Secretary;

Home Secretary• Deputy PM (Thatcher made Howe Deputy PM but

this was demotion from Foreign Secretary; Blair had Prescott as link to the Labour Party; Cameron and Clegg perhaps more meaningful but Clegg very much the junior partner)

• Cabinet ministers generally referred to as Secretaries of State

Relationship that matters

• Prime Minister and his Chancellor

Chancellor and his Chief Secretary

• Cutting the deficit the coalition partnership – Osborne and Alexander

Government

• Gordon Brown brought in outsiders and made them peers to join the government

• Peter Mandelson peerage – Business secretary in the cabinet

• Others commonly known as GOATS government of all the talents!

Government departments

• Government departments• 3 great offices of state as before• Ministry of Justice (Kenneth Clarke - Lord Chancellor and

Secretary of State for Justice)• Education• Business and Industry• Defence• Health • Work and Pensions • and so on

Cabinet & Ministers

• Ministers without Portfolio• Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster • Leader of the House• Chief Whip• Ministers of State• Parliamentary Under Secretaries• (Parliamentary Private Secretary PPS unpaid )

Civil Service

• Professional civil service serve the government - political neutrality - non partisan, does not change with change of government

• Cabinet Secretary • Permanent Secretaries – serve his/her secretary

of state• Collective term for the administrative structure• Also known as ‘Whitehall’• Permanent Secretaries

Civil servants relationship with PM and ministers

• Need to work together but the relationship can be tense

• New Labour suspicious of the Civil Service • Wary of civil servants who had prospered

under the preceding Conservative government (British Constitution, King p 222)

interdependency

Civil servants resources• Anonymity• Experience• Expertise• Knowledge• Permanence• Time• Whitehall network

Minister’s resources• Access to Cabinet• Access to media• Alternative source of advice• Authority• Political alliances• Political support/legitimacy• Prime Ministerial backing

Close to the Prime Minister and Secretaries of State

Special advisers (SPADS) - Blair

• Head of Policy• Devolution • Economy • Foreign Affairs• Health and Social Services• Home Affairs• Inequality and social exclusion• Trade and Industry• Transport• Welfare (inc. Children, the

elderly and women)

Spads – party animal• Spads have loyalty to their

boss – party appointment • If the Cabinet minister

resigns or is sacked the Spad goes as well

• Civil servants permanent – non partisan

Executive Agencies

• Delivery not policy formulation• Examples • Single biggest agency – Jobcentre Plus• HM Revenue and Customs• Criticism is that Ministers don’t accept

responsibility• (when HMRC lost data the Chief Exec resigned

not the Chancellor of the Exchequer)(Morrison Public Affairs for Journalists p 115/116)

Quangos

• Quangos are often confused with executive agencies

• Quasi autonomous non governmental organisations (hence quangos)

• Examples Arts Council, • Primary care trusts and strategic health

authorities (being abolished re Health and Social Care Bill)

Bonfire of the quangos

Draft cabinet manual

• http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmpolcon/writev/734/cicm08.htm

• Looks at monarchy, government, parliament, devolved institutions

• Written by Sir Gus O’Donnell• House of Lords select committee hearing

evidence – January/February 2011

Issues

• Tensions within the Coalition• Draft Cabinet manual• Written constitution • Return to Cabinet government • Wholesale reform of the government

departments for example Health, Education, Justice, Home Office