Does The Prime Minister Have Presidential Powers?

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Does The Prime Minister Have Presidential Powers?

Margaret Thatcher was the first Prime Minister who could be said to have had Presidential powers. Her style of government was very controlling, in fact the number, duration and documentation of Cabinet meetings reduced dramatically during her period of leadership. She followed policies that her Cabinet did not agree on, and this resulted in her being ousted after over a decade at the top.

        It can be argued that Tony Blair is very similar to Thatcher in this manner.  It is undoubtable that the power of the Prime Minister has increased at the expense of the Cabinet. This is the result of two main causes: the party machinery has become centralised under the control of the Prime Minister; and secondly, the civil service is now too large to remain under the control of the Cabinet, and it too has become centralised with the Prime Minister ultimately in control.

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        Foley suggested that features of the American Presidency could be applied to analyse some of the changes to the role of the British Prime Minister in recent years.

        Spatial leadership is the attempts made by the US President to distance himself from his position in times when that would prove to be beneficial. He/she would therefore appear to be on the side of the average citizen and gain public support. This has been exercised by both John Major, who publicly criticised beaurocratic elements of government, and by Tony Blair, who is continually going on visits in an attempt ...

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