"A Prime Minister is only as powerful as his Cabinet allows Him to be" - discussed

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“A Prime Minister is only as powerful as his Cabinet allows Him to be”

Members of the cabinet are the supreme decision-making authority for the government, and are the sole advisers to the Crown. Cabinet ministers are members of parliament and are made up from the same political party as the one that is in government i.e. all current ministers are members of the Labour Party. They have both executive and legislative responsibilities. Members of the cabinet answer to the Prime Minister who may remove or reshuffle any of them as he wishes. The cabinet is responsible to Parliament for its policies and actions. According to the cabinet offices own website; “The Cabinet Office’s central role is to support the Prime Minister in ensuring delivery of the Government’s strategy, helping to achieve positive change, particularly in the priority areas of education, health, transport and crime and asylum.” “The Cabinet reconciles Ministers' individual responsibilities with their collective responsibility. It is the ultimate arbiter of all Government policy.”

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The number of cabinet members varies but there are usually 20-25 members selected from 100 government members with a tendency for the number to increase in normal times with the growth of governmental functions and to decrease in national emergencies when the executive power is concentrated in fewer hands. A Cabinet is selected by the Prime Minister from MPs who are serving in the current government. They are picked for reasons of expertise in their field, experience in a Government office, or for their loyalty to their party or Prime Minister. Because the Prime Minister is the one that selects ...

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