Has power in Britain shifted significantly into the hands of unelected individuals in recent years?

The first 200 words of this essay...

One of the key areas of British politics where it has been argued that power has shifted significantly is in the relations between the legislature and executive. Whilst it can be argued that this analysis is meaningless since the Cabinet is generally comprised of elected Members of Parliament (MPs), I intend to define the Cabinet of the United Kingdom as a group of unelected individuals since they are not directly elected by the public to these elevated positions of authority. Rather, they are selected by the Prime Minister, whose only real elected authority is as that of a MP. My definition of a truly elected individual as someone who is elected by the general public leads to the conclusion that the only true elected body is the House of Commons. The idea that the executives power is growing is a concept alluded to by Foster (Flinders, 2002, p.28) in 1997 who argued that "The House of Commons must not become the Prime Minister's poodle". However, in reality the balance of power between the Cabinet and The House of Commons has always been significantly in the hands of Cabinet members. This is an argument which gains credibility from the fact that