Transcript Executive Power and Ministerial Responsibility

The British Prime Minister
Origins of the office
How the Prime Minister is appointed
The Powers of the PM and the rise of 10 Downing
Street
PM, Cabinet and the convention of collective cabinet
responsibility
The downfall of Mrs Thatcher as PM
The PM and the concept of ‘Elective dictatorship’
English Bill of Rights
• William III and Mary II offered the throne by Parliament in 1689
but with strict conditions attached:
• No army could be raised without parliamentary approval;
• Taxation required parliamentary approval;
• no special courts for political ends;
• freedom of petition guaranteed;
• free elections and regular parliaments;
• freedom of speech inside Parliament;
• protestant monarchy guaranteed, reinforced by Act of
Settlement 1701.
• Nothing on PM because no such office existed.
Origins of Prime Ministerial Government
British Prime Minister emerged after the introduction
of the Hanoverian monarchy. George I spoke no
English and his son, George II had only limited
command of the language.
The result was that the affairs of government were
increasingly conducted by the king’s ministers.
These ministers had to be members of parliament,
answerable to Parliament. Most prominent among
these was the First Lord of the Treasury, referred to
as Prime Minister.
Sir Robert Walpole 1721-1742 recognised as first
modern PM.
Gladstone and Disreali
PM party and policy
• It was not until the last quarter of the nineteenth century that
government assumed a prominent role in domestic policy.
• Empire, trade and foreign policy were fundamental concerns for
PMs.
• During the 19th century PMs frequently ran the country from the
House of Lords e.g. Lord Liverpool, Duke of Wellington,
Melbourne, Russell, Palmerston, Salisbury.
• Gladstone and Disreali can be regarded as modernisers
associated with the formation of the Liberal Party and
Conservative Party, electoral reform and improving the
efficiency of government.
• Government assumed responsibility for aspects of public health
and education.
PM as leader of a democratic state
• PM emerged as party leader in Parliament rather than as
popular leader.
• House of Lords represented the peers of the realm. Mainly
landowners with hereditary titles (barons, viscounts, earls,
dukes etc), plus the church (archbishops and bishops).
• House of Commons elected but until 1832 the distribution of
seats was based on medieval centres of population recognised
by Royal Charter. Many large cities and towns had no
representation in Parliament. Bribery and corruption common
place and no secret ballot.
• Reform Act 1918 gave adult men the vote and women over 30
with women only gaining equal voting rights in 1928.
• By the early twentieth century a convention emerged that the
PM must be a member of the House of Commons.
Churchill’s appointment as PM
• Change prompted by setbacks in the conduct of the war
compounded by weak leadership.
• Chamberlain forced to resign because many MPs in his own
party abstained in a vote in Parliament.
• Two candidates emerged Lord Halifax, an establishment figure
but not able to properly lead the nation from the non-elected
House of Lords.
• On the other hand, although Churchill was vastly experienced
he was seen as an unreliable adventurer.
• The King was advised to send for Churchill, partly because
Halifax did not want the job, partly because senior Labour
figures in the coalition were willing to serve under Churchill.
PM in wartime
• Coalition government of national unity ruled the
country throughout the war.
• Decision-making based on a small executive war
cabinet which included Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary, Beaverbrook
(aircraft production), opposition Labour leader Atlee
as deputy to Churchill, Minister of Labour and
national service (Bevin).
• Reflected the centralisation of the exercise of power.
• Churchill was famous for his war leadership and
inspirational speeches in Parliament and on the
radio.
How is the PM appointed?
• After an election if the current PM is defeated at the polls he/she
will resign and advise the Queen to invite the leader of the
largest party to become PM. John Major was defeated by Tony
Blair in 1997 and power was handed over as soon as the result
was clear.
• However, if, as in 2010, there was no party emerging with an
overall majority the existing PM may hang on to see if a
government can be formed.
• Only when Gordon Brown was sure that a wider coalition was
not possible did he resign and recommend to the Queen that
David Cameron should be asked to form a government. At all
times the survival of the government depends on maintaining its
majority in the House of Commons.
Change from Blair to Brown
• Tony Blair was able to win the election for the
leadership of the Labour Party on the premature
death of John Smith because he was unopposed by
Gordon Brown.
• Brown maintained that Blair would later step down
after 5 years as part of the agreement.
• Only after winning a third election was Blair prepared
to agree to stand aside and let his rival takeover after
much factional fighting within the Labour Party.
However, there was no internal party election as
there was no other viable candidate to replace Blair.
Queen and PM: Constitutional Monarchy
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with Queen as
head of state and in this capacity she performs some of the same
ceremonial functions as the Italian President but has much less
power, mainly represents the nation on the international stage.
Many conventions have developed which illustrate the emergence
of democratic government;
Royal assent to legislation guaranteed;
Leader of winning party will be invited by the Queen to become
Prime Minister and form the government;
On the opening of Parliament the Queen reads the Queen’s
speech declaring the policy objectives of her government but this is
always written by the Prime Minister.
Powers of the Prime Minister
PM chooses cabinet and other ministers, Queen only rubber
stamps the appointments. Unlike in Italy ministers can be
dismissed at any time without any legal qualification.
PM chairs cabinet, heads security service, co-ordinates role of
government from a department based at No10 Downing Street.
More controversial is the PM’s role in approving the appointment of
senior officials.
PM responsible for finally approving many other public
appointments e.g. peers, senior judges/Archbishops and Bishops.
Also for conferring honours.
The PM is also head of the security services.
.
PM as head of government
Varies between presidential or collegiate style of running the
government. Thatcher and Blair were particularly known for
concentrating power at Number 10 and using Cabinet for rubber
stamping decisions. There is no legal framework to determine
structure.
PM can not only appoint and dismiss ministers As Minister of the
Civil Service and head of the CS the PM can create, fuse and
abolish departments without the need for parliamentary approval
e.g. Harold Wilson formed Department of Economic Affairs, later
abolished. More recently, Blair Brown Lord Chancellor’s
Department become Department of Constitutional Affairs. Ministry
of Justice created in 2007 acquiring functions of Home Office
(prisons) and Department of Constitutional Affairs (courts, judicial
appointments and devolution).
PM’s Office
Number 10 Downing Street grew incrementally but in total this
amounted to a huge accumulation of functions, particularly
following WWII. Many levers of power now with PM.
The role of a specialist expanding team of personal advisers
responsible for shaping policy across government.
The ability to exercise appointment dismissal and terms of
employment of such advisers.
Increasingly centralised control over policy by forcing all policy
announcements to be cleared with No 10 first.
Press secretary (spin doctors) exercising power in their right e.g.
Alistair Campbell under Tony Blair.
Controversy under Cameron over Andy Coulson former Murdock
newspaper editor.
PM: Power in relation to Cabinet
Subject to political considerations (e.g. the coalition agreement) the
PM has unlimited power to appoints and dismisses ministers e.g.
Tony Blair was obliged to include Gordon Brown as Chancellor of
the Exchequer.
The PM chairs Cabinet meetings and decides on the agenda.
The PM determines the composition of cabinet committees where
the real decisions are taken and ensures the s/he chairs the most
important ones. These powers are qualified by current coalition
agreement.
The convention of collective Cabinet Responsibility originated from
the need to give the monarch unified advice.
Now it means that ministers must agree on policy after cabinet
discussion or resign e.g. Westland Affair. Intended to prevent
ministers from being disloyal to the government.
Collective cabinet responsibility
The convention is intended to ensure that the government speaks
with a single voice.
Present government (2010) is exceptional because it is bound by
the coalition agreement negotiated after the election.
Cabinet discussions are confidential so dissent can be expressed
without adverse comment.
Generally, ministers who are not prepared to accept a matter of
agreed policy will offer their resignation to the PM because as
Cabinet members once agreed they are expected to support the
government line.
Robin Cook and Claire Short under Blair resigned because of their
opposition to the Iraq war.
However, the convention does not overcome political divisions,
particularly over Europe in the Conservative party.
Let’s agree to differ
• When Harold Wilson became PM for the second time
in 1974 he was faced with a party split over the
decision by his predecessor, Mr Heath to join Europe.
• To overcome the problem he decided to hold a
referendum on the single issue of Europe.
• The convention of Collective Cabinet Responsibility
was suspended during the referendum campaign,
allowing both sides to advocate their opposing
positions but only on the understanding that the
convention would apply once the issue was resolved
one way or the other by the referendum.
Extract from current ministerial code of
practice
a.
The principle of collective responsibility, save where it is explicitly set
aside, applies to all Government Ministers;
b.
Ministers have a duty to Parliament to account, and be held to account,
for the policies, decisions and actions of their departments and agencies;
c.
It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful
information to Parliament, correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest
opportunity.Ministers who knowingly mislead Parliament will be expected to offer
their resignation to the Prime Minister;
d.
Ministers should be as open as possible with Parliament and the public,
refusing to provide information only when disclosure would not be in the public
interest which should be decided in accordance with the relevant statutes and the
Freedom of Information Act 2000;
e.
Ministers should similarly require civil servants who give evidence before
Parliamentary Committees on their behalf and under their direction to be as helpful
as possible in providing accurate, truthful and full information in accordance with the
duties and responsibilities of civil servants as set out in the Civil Service Code;
The Fall of Mrs Thatcher
• Very powerful leader, never lost an election as PM
• Falklands war consolidated her position
• Strong commitment to market based policies but often
controversial and perceived as a divisive figure.
• Westland Affair: resignation of rival Heseltine over helicopter
deal with USA
• Lost power in November 1990
• Faced growing opposition from within her own party over her
stance over Europe e.g. resignation of Geoffrey Howe as loyal
deputy and Lawson as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
• Determination to introduce the poll tax contrary to advice
encouraged opponents e.g. Heseltine to stand against her in an
internal election party election procedure.
Fixed term Parliament Act 2011
• Fixes the date of the next general election 7 May 2015
• Future Parliaments are also set at 5 year intervals
• But the Act removes the prerogative power to dissolve
Parliament notionally in the hands of the Monarch but actually
exercised by the PM.
• Election may still be triggered two thirds majority motion or by a
no confidence motion in the House of Commons.
• But PM no longer able to time election to suit his/her party and
so the PM relinquished a significant power.
• Part of a trend towards codifying the constitution
• General view is that a future Parliament could expressly repeal
this act.
What is ‘elective dictatorship’?
In light of the convention that the government must maintain its
Commons majority to survive, the party managers (whips) can put
enormous pressure on MPs of the ruling party to support the
government line or risk defeat in a vote of confidence (and, in
consequence, an election). In practice, this means that the government
can be sure to get its legislative programme enacted. The fact that MPs
of the governing party nearly always follow instructions from the whips
allows the PM, cabinet (party machine) to steamroller policy through
parliament. The concern is that its scrutinizing capacity may be
compromised as a result.
The parliamentary system in Italy (Article 94) also depends on the
government enjoying the confidence of parliament, but until recently
with less stability, because the government has tended to be formed
from a coalition of large parties and smaller parties or factions, any one
of which might break lose triggering a vote of confidence: e.g. fall of
Prodi government.
Conclusion
• No job description has every been written for a UK PM. Rather
the role has evolved with the constitution.
• As leader of the national party as well as the government the
PM is in a very strong position to achieve policy goals because
he or she can count on the whips in Parliament to deliver a
majority.
• Also, collective cabinet responsibility assists in securing a
unified party line on most issues.
• The number of appointments in his or her hands is a further
reason why the PM has so much power.
• Fixed Term Parliament Act is an example of a significant
qualification to the power of the PM.