How far is it true to say that Britain has moved from a system of Cabinet government to a system of Prime Ministerial government?

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How far is it true to say that Britain has moved from a system of Cabinet government to a system of Prime Ministerial government?

Introduction

To start off, we shall first examine the definition of each type of system of government in Britain.

Definition of Cabinet Government

Cabinet government is a popular system throughout democracy system. Britain itself also practices a cabinet government.

Essentially it means that the executive of the system is invested in a group of ministers who individually have responsibilities to specific policy areas but collectively are responsible for all government policies. They are generally separated from the other parts of the system that includes the three main organs of the government although they may still hold their positions in the legislature.

The cabinet consist of a chief spokesman whom is the prime minister and whom may do as little as chair meetings or may lead the cabinet to decisions.

The cabinet is the formal linchpin of the system; it is the focus of accountability to parliament and even the strongest Prime Minister cannot govern without its support. The cabinet meets weekly; chaired by the Prime Minister.

In short, the cabinet government places power equally amongst the ministers or members of the cabinet. Even though so, theory does not always match to the practice and these shall be further discussed below.

Definition of Prime Ministerial Government

In such government, the governing parties emerge from the assembly. The government ministers are usually drawn from, and remain members of the legislature. The executive is collegial, taking the form of a cabinet or council of ministers in which the Prime Minister was traditionally just first among equals.

The head of the government is called the Prime Minister and the cabinet can dismissed him from the office through a vote of no confidence in the parliament. The post of Prime Minister is usually separate from that of head of state, which is the monarch.

Again, the prime ministerial government is almost similar to a cabinet government except when it comes to the question of “to whom the power of deciding government policies or control of government lies?”.  To be direct and blunt, these powers lie on the Prime Minister himself.

This means within the government there is one all-powerful Prime Minister whom has the single central power or virtually all political power is lodged. Other power centers such as the cabinet may or may not exist. If they do exist, they are relatively weak or impotent, lacking sufficient power to effectively check and restrain exercise of political power by the single central power center. He shall completely controls and dominates the government and dictates to the entire society it rules.

        Also, it may exist in absolute rule of the few. This means, the unchecked, overriding political power is lodged in the hands of a very small number of persons who make up a single cohesive elite. Governing power is concentrated in one small, closely-knit group that operates as a single unit, wielding power and governing as if its members were a single person exercising unlimited power. This can be applied to the Britain government whereby the Prime Minister and with the support of a few of his top cabinet ministers monopolize the whole cabinet.

The Times Where Britain Practices Cabinet Government

In Great Britain, where the cabinet system originated, it was at first a committee of the privy council and rose to its modern status only after the sovereignty of Parliament had been established by the “Glorious Revolution of 1688”  and the gradual emergence of party government in the 18th century.

During this period, the Monarch was the head of the executive, and Cabinet Ministers were directly answerable to her. When George I became the first Monarch to stop attending Cabinet meetings, a chairman was needed to head meetings and report to the Monarch. The original title given was the First Lord of the Treasury. This post later became known as the Prime Minister, coming from the Latin ‘Primus inter pares,’. The Prime Minister was regarded as an equal to his cabinet colleagues, and decisions were made collectively.

The Shift From The System of Cabinet Government To The Prime Ministerial Government

        There has long been debate about the exact location of power now, and more specifically whether Britain have a Cabinet government or Prime Ministerial government.

        Some commentators would argue that the power of the Prime Minister has become Presidential, even Napoleonic. Others would disregard this as a gross simplification of the full picture, and that no single person or institution can create policy independently.

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        As per Tony Benn's assessment in the early 1980s;

        'The wide range of powers at present exercised by a British Prime Minister...

        are now so great as to encroach upon the legitimate rights of the electorate,

        undermine the essential role of parliament, usurp some of the functions

        

        of collective Cabinet.... in short, the present centralisation of power into the

        hands of one person has gone too far and amounts to a system of personal

        rule in the very heart of our parliamentary democracy.'

This goes on to prove gradually and planted ...

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