However the most well known example is the Iraq War. In 2003, Blair persuaded the cabinet to go to war despite huge doubts in the Government, leading to the resignation of two ministers. Despite the largest backbench rebellion since World War II with 139 backbenchers voting against the Government, Blair did not change his mind. Blair also had to convince Parliament, who thought the war would be illegal. Seeking legal advice from Lord Goldsmith, Blair is on record as saying ‘’I can’t go back to cabinet with that!’’ and pressuring him into saying yes. Did Blair tell this to his cabinet? No. Parliament voted in favour of the war as it had the support of the Conservatives. Blair also overruled his Foreign Minister Robin Cook, deciding that the UK should supply replacement parts for jets used by Zimbabwe. Despite Cook’s opposition, Blair overruled him. Tony Blair is a very good example of how powerful the Prime Minister is in the UK. He was able to get his own way despite cabinet ministers disagreeing with him.
Most Government decisions are made in departments by ministers. If more than one department is involved, or it is a big issue, it goes to cabinet. As the Government has got bigger there are more and more decisions – the cabinet was struggling to cope and so cabinet committees were created. These are set up and chaired by the PM who also decides the agenda, who sits on them, and if they should report to cabinet. The PM is in charge because he is not biased. However there are many examples of PM power involving control over these committees. Two such examples are Atlee spending £100m on development of nukes without telling Parliament or Cabinet, and Eden preparing for the invasion of the Suez without telling cabinet until the night before. Committees have become more important for recent PM’s. Thatcher used a committee to bypass cabinet on economic policy, as the wets controlled cabinet until 1981 – the dries, however, had the committee. 26 committees existed under Blair and Brown. It is the same under Cameron, however as the Government is a coalition Nick Clegg will chair a few committees. These committees, although helping streamline Government, have made the PM even more powerful.
A Prime Minister cannot be effective without backup. Despite the PM lacking a department, which poses a weakness, he does have lots of backup in the form of political advisors who will advise him on anything from health to defence to education. These advisors are not civil servants; they are personally employed by the PM. They are also despised by ministers who believe that the PM should ask them for advice. However if the PM asks his minister and an advisor for an opinion, he will likely get two differing opinions as the advisors often give conflicting advice. The importance of advisors is best shown by Margaret Thatcher. Her Chancellor Lawson had grown tired of her economic advisor Walters always offering conflicting advice. Even when threatening Thatcher with his resignation, she still refused to sack Walters, and Lawson followed through with his plans. Thatcher valued the opinion of her advisor to such an extent that she would let her own Chancellor resign. These political advisors undermine Government ministers and increases Prime Ministerial dominance over the UK political system.
The Prime Minister’s Office is based at no.10 and is also very useful in making the Prime Minister effective. Employing over 150 staff, it is divided into four parts – Private Office, Political Unit, Press Office and Policy Unit. The Private Office keeps the Prime Minister updated on his schedule and prepares answers for PMQ’s. So when the Prime Minister is questioned at PMQ’s, he may be seeing the answer for the first time as well. The Political Unit handles links with the PM’s party, so currently they will be maintaining links between David Cameron and the Conservatives, in addition they do the same job for Cameron’s constituency of Witney, as the Prime Minister is so busy he will not be able to maintain links with his constituency in the same way a normal MP can without aid. They also assist with writing his speeches and will offer policy advice. The Policy Unit is rather self explanatory, it develops policy. Blair often questioned ministers based on briefings from this unit, which he referred to as ‘’the Downing Street dozen’’. Finally, the Press Office looks after the PM’s links with the media. This is an important role; Alistair Campbell (Blair’s Press Secretary) was voted 8th most powerful man in Britain – ahead of all the cabinet, but still behind Blair. A British PM can claim a personal mandate as everyone knows who he is, but his cabinet members are not as well known. In the run up to the 1997 election, half the stories were not about the Labour party, but about Tony Blair. The TV debates introduced in 2010 also focused on the person, not the party. As well as making the PM more Presidential, they are also increasing his power. Ministers are very reluctant to criticise the PM and people are voting for the person, not the party. Arguably, the PM is better off without a department as the Prime Minister’s Office is a department in all but name, according to former top Civil Servant Kemp. As the PM is not bogged down in departmental matters like his cabinet colleagues, his workload is more manageable. The Prime Ministers Office is another instance where the PM exerts his power.
The Prime Minister is also in a strong position because he has been elected party leader. A party is far more loyal to an elected leader rather than a mere candidate, as is the norm with Presidential candidates in other nations such as the USA. The current leaders of the three main parties, Clegg, Miliband and Cameron, have all been elected. The importance of this position was shown by Brown, who was not elected party leader as nobody else wanted the job. As a result, Brown’s popularity during his time as PM was usually very low as he did not have a mandate from the party.
Once the Prime Minister is in office, he has job security and is very difficult to remove. If a PM has a majority and is in good health, it is almost impossible to sack them in peace time. If the Prime Minister could be sacked, he would simply do what everyone else wanted in order to keep his job. Since this is not the case, he is able to exert his authority and express his own opinion. A PM can only be removed in extreme circumstances, such as war or illness. The only Prime Minister who has been forced out in the last 100 years was Margaret Thatcher. Even though Brown and Major were both very unpopular Prime Ministers, neither were sacked. The fact that the PM has been elected leader of his party, and the sheer difficulty of removing him, increases his power.
There are some checks on the Prime Ministers power too. Despite having the power of appointment and dismissal over them, the cabinet acts as a check on the Prime Minister, and indeed any other overly powerful minister or department. Responsibility for Government policy is accepted through the CCMR (Convention of Collective Ministerial Responsibility). Cabinet agrees on and proposes Government legislation that will pass through Parliament, and legitimises decisions made elsewhere – such as committees. It symbolises the British system of collective Government.
Cabinet contains certain people who are important in their own right; they are in the cabinet because they have to be as they are important figures in the party. Brown, Prescott and Cook had to be in Blair’s cabinet because of their popularity. The PM is not the only important figure! These political heavyweights may be favoured by backbenchers, the public, the media or their colleagues. They are perceived as being highly competent and the PM cannot afford to cross these ministers, especially in their area of policy. The classic example is Gordon Brown in Tony Blair’s cabinet. Brown had large numbers of backbenchers and party members loyal to him, even though Blair could have sacked him doing so was inconceivable. Brown was thought highly of by the cabinet, his reputation in the country was strong. Everyone touted him as Blair’s successor before it happened in 2007. The Labour party had a pledge in their 1997 manifesto that they wanted to join the Euro – if the people were in favour. In 2003, Blair thought it was the time to hold a referendum, Brown did not. Brown was the Chancellor, therefore he was in a powerful position and would get his way on economic policy. No referendum was ever held. Blair and Brown are a very good example of how political heavyweights limit Prime Ministerial power.
To be electorally popular, a party needs to please a wide range of people. British political parties are seen as a broad church, if they aren’t they will not get any seats. The PM has to keep this ‘broad church’ happy, which is a massive constraint on his power – the different wings of the party are only happy if their voice is being heard in the cabinet. This leads to divisions in the party which have to be reflected in Government, it is a bad idea to ignore them. Thatcher paid the price for losing two opponents. One of them, Hesseltine, was dismissed in 1986 and waited for the moment to bring down Thatcher, succeeding in 1990. Only by including political opponents in the cabinet will this ‘broad church’ be satisfied. As former PM Churchill once said, ‘’Keep your friends close, your enemies closer’’. The downside is these people in cabinet will be influential over Government policy and have their voices heard.
There are numerous examples of this conflict. Despite Thatcher and Major having problems in their cabinets (with pro Euros and Thatcherites/euro sceptics respectively), they could not sack the ‘problem MP’s’. With such a small majority, Major could ill afford to have so many problems. Despite being quoted as saying ‘’I’d like to crucify the bastards!’’ Major could not sack them. Tony Blair had to keep the left of his Labour party happy in Parliament and public, people such as Prescott thought Blair had gone too far right, even referring to him as Tory Blair. If Blair didn’t keep old Labour happy, he would have been forced out of office. The presence of Prescott ensured the left went along with Blair, however it also meant he would have an influence on policy. Another left wing minister, Short, couldn’t be sacked despite heavily criticising Blair in a radio interview. Gordon Brown also had problems. Not just those that would inevitably occur with being an unelected PM, but also with the Blairites. An attempt to overthrow him in 2009 failed. The obligation to keep this ‘broad church’ happy is a serious restraint on the Prime Minister’s power. Even though Ministers cannot speak out as they are bound by the CCMR, they influence policy and as much as the PM wants to get rid of them, he is forced to keep them in their jobs.
The Prime Minister also knows that it is difficult to replace a minister. His cabinet also know this, it is a major strength for these ministers who know that they cannot be sacked easily even if their behaviour is unreasonable. The PM is very constrained in the fact their ministers must be chosen from Parliament. The pool of selection is reduced further when the MP’s who are too young, too old and who do not want the job are taken into account. Some more MP’s may not be competent enough for the position, or have a colourful past, this rules out even more. So suddenly the PM has to find 80 jobs from around 200 MP’s, this is more than one in three. A prospective minister must also be a skilled debater, a people person, a trustworthy and confident individual and the stamina for a demanding job. Not every MP fits this bill. This reduces the power of the PM as he may be forced to keep an individual in Government as there is nobody suitable to replace him.
Despite the Prime Minister being forced into keeping political heavyweights in his cabinet, and the sheer difficulty of replacing a minister, he retains a great deal of authority and dominates the political system in the UK. By using the power of patronage, controlling of Government business and cabinet committees along with the vast quantity of backup available to him from advisors and the Prime Ministers Office, the Prime Minister is a very powerful figure in UK politics.
