The Power to elect cabinet
“The Cabinet Office supports the Prime Minister in ensuring that the government delivers its priorities, particularly in relation to health, education, transport, crime and asylum policies” (http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page1484.asp). The Power to elect cabinet can be described as having the power to pick the executive committee of the government. There are certain fixed principles in this power. The Prime Minister on his own hires or sacks a minister and can switch them from one department to the other if they agree. The agenda of the cabinet is also another fixed principle which the Prime Minister has to decide on, he or she will chair all the meetings on the agenda and guide the Cabinet Secretary when making the minutes for the meetings whilst being able to call an emergency meeting whenever needed. (Neil McNoughton, 1999: 59)
If a member of the cabinet tries to speak about something which isn’t on the agenda then the Prime Minister can rule the minister as being out of order and could even walk out which would mean the end of the meeting. (King, A 1963: 172)
The power of dissolution
To exercise the power of dissolution the Prime Minister by custom asks the queen to dissolve parliament, once the dissolution takes place a general election has to take place. By being able to choose when the election will be held, the Prime Minister has many advantages to the opposition, as he or she can chose to have an election when they feel they are popular. (Neil McNoughton, 1999: 60)
Another advantage of the power is that it deters a revolt within the party by the back benchers as the prime minister would have to use the power of dissolution to avoid a vote of no confidence, so therefore going to elections with such circumstances the party would be doomed and for the backbenchers and the less influential members of the party this would be a political career suicide. (King, A 1963: 170)
The power of patronage
The Power of Patronage cab be described as the power to impart gifts, these gifts include peerages and knighthoods, state offices, government posts, ministerial advisory post, jobs beyond Whitehall such as in the NHS and the BBC.(Kingdom, 1999: 443)
The prime minister is helped by the Chief Whip to dispense the gifts, and MP’s will not want to be a pain to the Prime Minister, or the Chief Whip, as this will affect there future chances of progression. The fact that the number of government offices has increased so much the power of the power of patronage has increased as more ministers will feel optimistic of receiving patronage (King, A 1963: 170)
Command-in-chief of the armed forces
Just like a President the Prime Minister is the man or woman in charge of a country’s Nuclear weapons and it is the P.M. which decides when the country needs to go to war, for example Thatcher ignored the Cabinet and declared war on Argentina over the Falklands. This power can be argued to be a burden to the Prime Minister as he has to make a very important decision on behalf of the nation and if wrong can have disastrous effects. Asquith, and to some Extent Lloyd George, can be used example’s here as due to their Liberal Party pacifistic approach on World War I, the country had many bad outcomes such as the financial costs of the war. (Neil McNoughton, 1999: 57)
First Lord of Treasury
The actual fact that by custom the Prime Minister lives in 10 downing street is down to the fact that he is the First Lord, as when Walpole was in Prime Minister it he declared it as the residence of the first Lord of treasury after being given it as a gift by George II (www.nationalmaster.com). Furthermore by being First Lord of Treasury, the Prime Minister also gains the power of being able to decide which civil servants will hold the most important positions. In His book “The British Prime Minister” Anthony King works out the way this is possible as follows “In the Nervous system of Whitehall the Prime Ministers office must be the ganglion. The personnel of the civil service are managed by the Establishment division of the Treasury, whose Joint Permanent Secretary, the Head of the Home Civil service, is directly responsible to the P.M. in his capacity as First Lord of the Treasury”(p175)
To help him carry out all his duties to the best possible way the P.M. has his own personal office, of about a hundred staff. The office can be broken down into two categories, Private office and Political office. The private office includes housekeeping and handling daily affairs. The political office is responsible for party and constituency matters.
(Kingdom, J 1999: 445)
Conclusions
Along with his formal powers the Prime Minister can also have some informal powers such as all the prerogative powers, by being elected as Prime Minister he has the popularity of the people so therefore can sign treaties and attend international meetings as the face of the British nation. He can also be seen as having the Power of the Press. The Prime Minister actually has his own Press Office which anything, from ministerial speeches to interviews and media appearances, must be cleared by for them to be given to the public (Kingdom, J 1999: 445)
To help him carry out all his duties to the best possible way the P.M. has his own personal office, of about a hundred staff. The office can be broken down into two categories, Private office and Political office. The private office includes housekeeping and handling daily affairs. The political office is responsible for party and constituency matters. (Kingdom, J 1999: 445)
The Prime Minister can also control the path of his successor. If he retires in mid term he is in a good position to pass on his place to the man of his choice. However this can be different for a Labour P.M. than for example a Conservative Pm, as Labour constitution states that a new leader must be elected. If a Labour Prime Minister was to retire however he could in theory make it very hard for someone which he dislikes to rule successfully (e.g. Asquith leaving the war to Lloyd George) thus making it a difficult assignment for the new P.M. to further his career. (King, A 1963: 175)
The Prime Ministers powers can be limited. This can happen in a few ways. The House of Commons is the main way which restricts the Premier’s powers. The way the House of Commons can keep the Prime Minister in check is through committee hearings and Question Time. In Question time the prime minister has to answer questions put forward to him by mainly the leader of the opposition but other members of the house can also ask questions. However, question time is no problem to the Prime Minister if he is leading a majority government (www.nationalmaster.com).
, an online encyclopedia describes the restraint by the House of Lords excellently in the following paragraph:
“The House of Lords is less restricted by the Prime Minister's power. Under the Salisbury Convention, the House of Lords normally does not seek to oppose any measure promised by the Government in its election manifesto. When the House of Lords does oppose the Prime Minister, it is generally ineffectual. Peers (members of the House of Lords) are created by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister; by obtaining the creation of several new peers, the Prime Minister may flood the House of Lords with individuals supportive of his position. Such a tactic was used in 1911 to ensure the passage of the Parliament Act 1911, which, together with the Parliament Act 1949, reduces the House of Lord’s powers and establishes the supremacy of the Commons. (In particular, the House of Lords can only delay, but not reject, most bills on which the Commons insist.)”
Other restraints to the prime minister can be the fact that, although highly unlikely, the Monarch can claim back his or her prerogative powers. This restraint is still there in case the P.M. “acts in defiance of a clear parliamentary and cabinet opposition. If support is withdrawn by the Monarch then the P.M. stops having any legal basis. (McNaughton, N 1999: 57)
Cabinet, although informally, can constraint the Prime Minister if a majority is clear against him or her. Even Margaret Thatcher who was known to act without much consideration of her colleagues was occasionally defied by her colleagues.
When all the powers are put together the Prime minister can run a very effective government. The powers can be seen as being there to help him to run the government as he wishes by keeping his opponents at bay and by getting the majority of the government to support him in anything he does; for example cabinet has collective responsibility. Collective responsibility means all members of cabinet carry equal responsibility, for any decision reached even if a member was against the decision, publicly they must show that he supports the decision; this has the effect of being able to silence the opponents of the Prime Minister.