Who really runs Britain? Theories of executive power DO NOW Study the infographic on your tables,...
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Who really runs Britain? Theories of executive power DO NOW Study the infographic on your tables, which summarises the findings of the latest Democracy
Who really runs Britain? Theories of executive power DO NOW
Study the infographic on your tables, which summarises the findings
of the latest Democracy Audit study (2012). Can you explain why
each of these measures might be relevant to the study of democracy?
What conclusions can you draw about the relative health of
democracy in the UK from this body of evidence?
Slide 2
Learning objectives To describe the make-up of the Executive in
the UK system of government To explain how power is shared between
the Prime Minister and Cabinet To evaluate the impact of the 2010
Coalition Agreement on Cabinet government
Slide 3
The remainder of this week Thursdays current affairs quiz
coincides with the Scottish referendum. The quiz will take a deep
look at the referendum issue. You have been warned. I am away on
Friday. You will have a written task to complete for the following
Tuesday.
Slide 4
WHAT IS EXECUTIVE POWER?
Slide 5
Executive (Prime minister & Cabinet) House of Commons
Personnel Accountability The UK model of parliamentary government
Electorate Legitimacy & Accountability House of Lords Supreme
Court Accountability
Slide 6
The Cabinet is the hyphen that joins and the buckle that links
government to Parliament. Walter Bagehot 1826-77
Slide 7
Theories of executive power There are four main theories of
executive power: Cabinet government Core executive government
Prime-ministerial government / Presidentialism
Slide 8
What is the Core executive? The core executive refers to the
institutions and individuals at the heart of the government
machine. This may include senior Cabinet figures such as the
Chancellor, the Cabinet office, civil servants and/or special
advisors.
Slide 9
What is Prime Ministerialism or Presidentialism? Prime
ministerialism refers to the theory that power is concentrated in
the hands of the Prime Minster. The PM is able to make policy
independent of the Cabinet and, at times, despite its private
opposition. Presidentialism is a more extreme version of the same
idea.
Slide 10
WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT?
Slide 11
Study the worksheet and decide whether these statements are
True or false? 1)The Prime Minister must lead a party with a
majority in the House of Commons 2)The Cabinet serves as the main
forum for policy formation and control 3)The Cabinet has a fixed
number of members and a fixed meeting schedule 4)All government
ministers can attend meetings of the Cabinet 5)The chairperson of
the Conservative Party can be a member of the Cabinet 6)All members
of the majority party in the House of Commons are members of the
government 7)A Prime Minister can only appoint members of his or
her own party as government ministers 8)A prime minister can
legitimately consider issues of gender and ethnicity when
appointing ministers 9)Cabinet members can dismiss junior ministers
10)All Cabinet members must agree in order for the government to
implement policy
Slide 12
Type of memberTypical number Role Prime minister1The most
senior member of the government and leader of the senior party. The
PM forms and chairs the Cabinet, appoints and dismisses ministers,
and is responsible for the organisation of government departments.
Cabinet members22The supreme decision-making body in government,
made up of the most senior office holders, typically heads of
government departments, plus a small number of senior party
members. Senior non-cabinet post15Holders of other important
government posts, such as Attorney General. These people may be
invited to attend Cabinet meetings on an ongoing basis or as
necessary. Junior ministers60Ministers who are typically
responsible to a cabinet member. Whips17Party officials who have
the job of ensuring party discipline among MPs and
peersessentially, making sure they vote the way the government
directs. The Chief Whip is usually a member of the Cabinet.
Total116 Who is in the government (narrowly defined)?
Slide 13
Characteristics of the government The executive is formed by
the Prime Minister and Cabinet; the PM is invited to form a
government by the monarch All members of the government must sit in
one of the Houses of Parliament (fusion of executive and
legislative); the majority are expected to sit in the Commons
Although the Cabinet typically debates and votes on all major
decisions, the Prime Minster is responsible for directing
government policy The Cabinet typically meets weekly, but may meet
more regularly if faced with serious matters of national interest
Sub-groups of Cabinet members can meet independently in the form of
Cabinet Committees with responsibility for forming policy in a
specific area, e.g. counter-terrorism; other ministers and
officials can join these groups The Cabinet makes policy and is
bound by the principle of collective responsibility, or always
supporting Cabinet decisions regardless of ones personal views The
representative qualities of the Cabinet and wider government is
increasingly politically important
Slide 14
Slide 15
Slide 16
Slide 17
WHAT IS COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY?
Slide 18
What is Collective Responsibility? Collective Ministerial
Responsibility Secrecy Government Ministers should not release
details of Cabinet discussion. To do this would reveal differences
of opinion between Cabinet Members and threaten the unity of the
Government. In 2008 under Gordon Brown there were a number of leaks
from Labour Cabinet Members about his leadership style,
particularly his inability to produce a clear vision for Labour.
Chief Whip Geoff Hoon at the time called it it is quite wrong for
them to breach the confidentiality of cabinet conversations.
Binding Decisions Once a decision is reached in the Cabinet, it is
binding on all members of the Government. If a Minister cannot
accept it, they must resign. Thatcher suffered two serious
resignations with Nigel Lawson (1989) and Sir Geoffrey Howe (1990)
who launched a scathing attack on her. Ministers who are unable to
accept the leadership of the party should also resign. This was the
case with James Purnell and Caroline Flint in 2009. Confidence Vote
If there is a vote of no-confidence in Parliament (a specific vote
to oust the Government) and the Government is defeated, then they
must all resign from their Cabinet and Ministry posts. This
automatically leads to a General Election. This last happened in
1979 when James Callaghan the Labour PM lost a vote of no
confidence after a Devolution bill was defeated.
Slide 19
What happens when Cabinet colleagues fall out? Watch this
interview with Baroness Warsi, filmed in August just after her
resignation from the Cabinet. What do her actions suggest about (a)
the responsibilities of a Cabinet member, and (b) the power of the
Prime Minister relative to his Cabinet?
Slide 20
HOW IS A GOVERNMENT FORMED?
Slide 21
How is a government formed?
Slide 22
What usually happens? For example 1997 General Election: Labour
had the clear majority in the House of Commons election Tony Blair
was therefore asked to form government by the Queen. Tony Blair
knew through the night as election results came in that he would be
forming the next government. This is because it is undisputed that
the majority in Commons forms government.
Slide 23
It became clear on the day after the election that no party
would have an overall majority. The conservatives had the most
seats but were still 20 short of an overall majority. Labour was
well behind the Tories and would need a rainbow coalition with Lib
Dem and Others to form government. Gordon Brown did not resign even
though Labour were far behind the Tories. The Labour leadership
entered talks to form a coalition with the Lib Dems. The Liberal
Democrats did quite well this put them in a powerful position for
negotiating a coalition government. Over several days, the Liberal
Democrats conducted simultaneous negotiations with both the main
parties wanting to form a coalition. HOWEVER... Rumour was that
Clegg was unwilling to work with Brown and thought he should leave
no. 10
Slide 24
Bye bye Brown! Gordon Brown remained PM whilst negotiations
continued, bowed to the in inevitable. He resigned both as PM and
Labour leader. He went to Buckingham Palace and advised the Queen
that she should ask David Cameron to form a government, either as a
minority or in coalition with the Liberal Democrats. Would one like
to have a go at being Prime Minister and forming a coalition
government? Cameron accepted and shortly afterwards announced that
negotiations for coalition with the Liberal Democrats had been
successfully concluded. Thus a new government was formed. The whole
process took just five days. It is likely to be a blue-print for
procedures in the event of more hung parliaments. Nevertheless,
though the formation of a coalition had run relatively smoothly,
the nature of government was dramatically changed.
Slide 25
Types of coalition Majority coalition Normally formed by two
parties in order to create a parliamentary majority and so pass
laws. Grand coalition Coalitions between two major parties (for
most of the past century, Labour and the Conservatives), normally
in the face of a national emergency Rainbow coalition Agreements
between many parties, often with widely differing political views.
These are more common in Continental Europe than in the UK.
National coalition Coalitions where all parties are invited to
participate. They are designed to promote national unity. Britain
had a National Coalition Government during the Second World
War.
Slide 26
Types of coalition Majority coalition Normally formed by two
parties in order to create a parliamentary majority and so pass
laws. Grand coalition Coalitions between two major parties (for
most of the past century, Labour and the Conservatives), normally
in the face of a national emergency Rainbow coalition Agreements
between many parties, often with widely differing political views.
These are more common in Continental Europe than in the UK.
National coalition Coalitions where all parties are invited to
participate. They are designed to promote national unity. Britain
had a National Coalition Government during the Second World
War.
Slide 27
Key questions Read the article from Politics Review plus the
section from the textbook beginning Cabinet is the same under the
Coalition in these ways and answer the following questions: What
effect has the coalition government had on the working of Cabinet?
How would you characterise executive power under the
Coalition?
Slide 28
Is Cabinet government under threat? YES The Prime Minister has
resources of patronage that will ensure loyalty: (s)he hires and
fires ministers at will and decides whether ministers below
Secretary of State level are included in the Cabinet. The PM has
access to a system of discipline through the party Whips which
typically ensure broad party loyalty. There is no requirement that
the PM accept the Cabinets recommendations on major policy
decisions, although repeated failure to do so may risk party
loyalty. The PM may pay more attention to the opinions of unelected
special advisers (e.g. in the PMs office) than to Cabinet
colleagues. The media tends to focus disproportionately on the
personality and character of the Prime Minister NO The UK system
government is still formally a collective enterprise, with Prime
Minsters heavily criticised for behaving presidentially The Cabinet
provides valuable support for the Prime Minster when (s)he is held
to account by Parliament Some ministers are, in practice,
unsackable because of their standing with the party or public
Public dissent by Cabinet members on key issues has brought down
Prime Ministers (e.g. Thatcher in 1990) Government is too complex
for one individual to control: the PM still relies heavily on
Ministers who have their own departments and a set of civil
servants working for them
Slide 29
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Slide 30
Who really runs Britain? Theories of executive power DO NOW
Study the table comparing the UK with the Nordic countries across
various measures of democratic well-being. Can you explain why each
of these measures might be relevant to the study of democracy? What
conclusions can you draw about the relative health of democracy in
the UK from this body of evidence?
Slide 31
MeasureUKNordic avg Turnout in parliamentary elections60%79%
Proportion of the electorate who are members of political parties
1%5% Proportion of MPs who are women22%41% Global ranking of press
freedom (Freedom House Index highest = 1) 26 th 2 nd Global ranking
for absence of corruption (Transparency Intl Index highest = 1) 20
th 4 th Compliance with human rights (Human Rights Index highest =
22) 1921 Full time workers earning