Transcript Role of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

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)
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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
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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
c
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=73
45986942222242060#
Chilcot inquiry – evidence from Lord
Prescott – Blair’s sofa government
Trusted confidantes
as 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
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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 constraints
Dorey – Policy making in Britain
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Delivery not policy formulation
Examples
Single biggest agency – Jobcentre Plus
HM Revenue and Customs
Criticism is that Ministers don’t accept
responsibility
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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/cm
201011/cmselect/cmpolcon/writev/734/cicm
08.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
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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