British Government and Politics (JN302)

Prime Minister, Cabinet and Government

1. Office of Prime Minister 2. Cabinet and Government 3. Collective Responsibility and Ministerial

Code 4. Civil Service 5. Executive Agencies and Quangos 6. Coalition Agreement

Lecture Outline

1. Office of Prime Minister

Office only arose with need to chair Cabinet with German-speaking George I in 1714.

First PM Sir Robert Walpole.

Office only publicly popularised at start of 20th century.

1. Office of Prime Minister

Powers of PM: 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.

Prime Ministers are ‘primus inter pares’ – first among equals.

Elected as MP with the responsibilities that entails. Leader of the party. Becomes Prime Minister (we don’t elect a PM). Recent more ‘presidential’ status of position. Also has titles of First Lord of the Treasury and

Minister for Civil Service (serviced by the Cabinet Office).

1. Office of Prime Minister

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.

1. Office of Prime Minister

PM has great power and needs 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

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

Party (Tory 1922 Committee).

1. Office of Prime Minister

“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)

1. Office of Prime Minister

1. Office of Prime Minister

Enhancing power Large parliamentary majority Unified cabinet Recent 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 (From Dorey – Policy Making in Britain)

The Prime Minister’s Office Policy unit only established 1974. Provides

PM with independent source of policy advice. Staffed by about 100 people.

Works in conjunction with Cabinet Office – indicative of growing executive government.

Blair in 1997 introduced Strategic Communications Unit to co-ordinate media relations of departments and ministers.

1. Office of Prime Minister

2. Cabinet and Government

Cabinet is sub-set of government, comprised of senior ministers (usually 20-25).

Cabinet ministers generally referred to as Secretaries of State.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19475248

The Cabinet is made up of the senior members of government. Every Tuesday during Parliament, members of the Cabinet (Secretaries of State from all departments and some other ministers) meet to discuss what are the most important issues for the government.

Cabinet committees – chaired by PM or senior Cabinet ministers.

2. Cabinet and Government

Prime Minister and his Chancellor

2. Cabinet and Government

Cutting the deficit - coalition partnership of Osborne and Alexander

Power of Cabinet has declined in recent decades.

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.”

2. Cabinet and Government

2. Cabinet and Government

More power located in informal collections of close, sometimes unelected (special advisers – spin doctors), colleagues: kitchen cabinets, sofa government.

For Blair, Alistair Campbell (Press Secretary) and Jonathan Powell, (Chief of Staff who played significant role in Good Friday agreement)

For Thatcher , Charles Powell (Foreign Adviser) and Bernard Ingham, (Press Secretary)

2. Cabinet and Government

For Cameron, Andy Coulson, Press Secretary (had to leave when he became the story), Craig Oliver current Director of Communications; and Steve Hilton, Director of Strategy (went to US but still in touch).

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/andrew-grice/andrew-grice-relations-between-the-pms-two-closest-aides-go-from-bad-to-worse-2187950.html

Cabinet Office – civil service of the Cabinet https://www.gov.uk/government/organisation

s/cabinet-office

Cabinet Secretariat – group of about 30 seconded senior civil servants. Secretariat made up of six separate departmental secretariats, including Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat, European Secretariat, Intelligence Support Secretariat.

2. Cabinet and Government

Governments can number between 80 and 100 plus ministers.

Most junior ministerial post is parliamentary under-secretary, ranking below secretaries of state and ministers.

Parliamentary private secretaries are junior posts often ascribed to ambitious MPs who aspire to become Ministers.

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

2. Cabinet and Government

Government departments crucial area of government – headed by ministers with civil servant permanent secretary who provides policy advice and in charge of the daily work of the department. Ministers make policy and civil servants implement policy.

New Labour introduced idea of ‘joined-up government’ with greater co-ordination between departments and agencies, private and voluntary sectors, and public.

2. Cabinet and Government

Ministers are bound by collective responsibility – they publicly endorse Cabinet decisions after debate and decisions taken (even if they disagree).

Sometimes, disagreements are too strong and Minister resigns. Robin Cook former Labour Foreign Secretary resigned over the war in Iraq.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0f8NBlmwwE Coalition agreement allows for some Cabinet dissent

between Conservatives and Lib Dems in some areas.

3. Collective Responsibility and Ministerial Code

Ministerial responsibility doctrine – Ministers should resign if serious error or scandal occurs in their Departments. Occurs less so now.

Jeremy Hunt defied calls for resignation as Culture Secretary about News Corp’s takeover bid for BSkyB. But Liam Fox resigned as Defence Secretary in 2011 over links with his friend and corporate lobbyist Adam Werritty.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15300751

3. Collective Responsibility and Ministerial Code

Ministerial code redrafted in Coalition agreement. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-code Principles include: Provision of accurate and truthful

information to Parliament, require no conflict between public duties and private interests, must not accept gifts or hospitality that compromises their judgement, not use government resources for party political purposes, etc.

Register of Members’ Financial Interests: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmregmem.htm http

://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/greenpolitics/planning/10031082/Shareholding-not-recorded-in-the-Ministerial-List-of-Interests.html

3. Collective Responsibility and Ministerial Code

4. Civil Service

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

Cabinet Secretary – Sir Jeremy Heywood

Permanent Secretaries – serve his/her secretary of state or minister. Senior civil servants known as ‘mandarins’.

Collective term for the administrative structure

Also known as ‘Whitehall’

In 2009 total civil service staff numbered just under 490,000. Their numbers have declined from 735,000 in 1979.

Contra Whitehall image, only about 16% of UK-based civil servants work in London.

4. Civil Service

Politicians and civil servants need to work together but the relationship can be tense.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/sep/05/universal-credit-iain-duncan-smith

New Labour were suspicious of the Civil Service. They were wary of civil servants who had prospered under the preceding Conservative government.

Special advisers are party appointments and not civil servants. They leave position if Minister resigns or sacked.

4. Civil Service

4 Civil Service

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

Executive agencies are subsets of government departments that focus on delivery of policy rather than formulation of policy. Can allow Ministers to escape ministerial responsibility.

Biggest executive agency is Jobcentre Plus. Now employs about 100,000 staff with annual budget of £4 billion.

5. Executive Agencies and Quangos

Quangos (Quasi autonomous non governmental organisations) are often confused with executive agencies. They are non-departmental public bodies.

Examples: Arts Council England. Comparatively high levels of autonomy (with criticisms of

lack of accountability) http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/key

-issues-for-the-new-parliament/decentralisation-of-power/quangos/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8063628/Quango-reform-full-list.html

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2009/jul/07/public-finance-regulators

5. Executive Agencies and Quangos

2010 election resulted in hung parliament with no single party emerging with an overall majority in the House of Commons, for the first time since 1974.

Coalition Agreement https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-coali

tion-documentation

Mid-term Review: http://midtermreview.cabinetoffice.gov.uk Mid-term review press conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl-xX25JFP8

6. Coalition Agreement

Fragile state of Coalition: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/se

p/17/no-lib-dem-split-tories-danny-alexander

6. Coalition Agreement