The document discusses the roles and powers of various UK political institutions. It describes how the Prime Minister exercises power through cabinet appointments and agenda-setting, but can be limited by lack of party or public support. Parliament provides scrutiny of legislation through both the House of Commons and House of Lords. Select committees question government departments. The cabinet delegates much of its work to committees while maintaining collective responsibility. The opposition challenges the governing party.

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3.  House of Lords – Also known as Peers and act as a
watchdog. Some peers are hereditary which means the title
is passed down from their father.
 The Queen – Must remain neutral. The Queen is our head
of state. This means she is the physical embodiment of the
IK. She represent the UK abroad
A Republic is a country without a King or Queen

4.  Civil servants work for Politicians. They must remain neutral
and don’t take any political position.
 They advise on policies and ensure that the policies are put
in place across the UK when they become law. E.g.- The
equality act 2010 was administered and delivered by the
civil service. This meant booklets and presentations were
given to local governments and businesses so that they
would know what they are doing.
 CSs also advise ministers on policies, how the public are
thinking , opinion polls, and what media is saying. ( A
minister is in charge of a department, e.g. – Foreign Affairs,
Health, Education). This puts CSs in competition with
special Advisors or Spin Doctors.

5.  Spin Doctors will turn a politicians negative influence better.
 Spin doctors suggest sound bites to politicians. E.g. Tony
Blair - “Education”

6.  The Executive is made up of 3 parts: 1.Prime Minister
2.Cabinet
3.Civil Service
 The Monarch – The PM holds prerogative powers that afford him or
her traditional authority
 The Parts – The PM is the majority party leader; this confers power
and authority as head of government that is both legal and rational
 The People – it could be argued that although a PM is not directly
elected by the people, most people would vote for a leader as well
as a party, therefore indirectly he or she has the peoples authority.
This could be called charismatic authority
 Parliament – as long as he or she has a majority in and the
confidence of the H of C, he Pm has the authority of parliament
 The Cabinet – as cabinet chairperson, the PM has the authority of
the cabinet

7.  PM has the power to appoint and dismiss government
ministers.
 PM has power to ‘hire’ or ‘fire’ or ‘reshuffle’ the make up of
cabinet or government . If someone is over looked for
promotion they can become resentful and it is important for
the PM to retain the support and loyalty of all his or her
MPs. E.g.- Cabinet reshuffle of 2006, Blair ejected Charles
Clark from post of Home Secretary. He was so annoyed and
dejected that he refused the post of Defense Secretary and
returned to back benches.
 As part of Coalition 2010, David Cameron could only
allocate posts after consulting Nick Clegg and any
subsequent allocations had to be agreed between PM and
Deputy PM.

8.  PM has power to be involved in appointing people to
important positions outside the government. In 2010, Dolar
Popat, a self made millionaire, who has given Torries more
than £200K in donations was given a seat in the H of L by
David Cameron. His position is Government Whip.

9.  As leader of the largest party in the H of C, the PM usually
has a majority and therefore a position of confidence to
successfully carry out his of her governments programme

10.  PM can use prerogative power to dissolve parliament and
hold a general election.
 Tony Blair in 2001 and 2005 called an election with one
year of the 5 year parliament still to run

11.  In Cabinet are Senior Civil Servants, SPADs, MPs, Lords,
Minister, Spin Doctors
 PM chairs cabinet meetings and has power to set the
agenda and determine what is discussed and what isn't.
 PM controls the pace and direction of the meetings and
sums up the ‘sense’ of what took place.
 PM used to be called ‘first among equals’
 Nowadays PM is becoming more presidential and powerful.
PMs can dominate cabinets, e.g. – Margaret Thatcher. If
ministers question a strong MP they are likely to be
removed from the Cabinet.

12.  PM rely on support of the people and need to remain
popular and appear statesmanlike. They provide national
leadership at home and internationally, leading the nation
in times of crisis
 Also empowers PM to sit with other world leaders and
attend high profile meetings at G8 and EU summits. They
are directly involved in foreign policy and PM negotiates
treaties

13.  PMs policy making role is broad and is not confined to one
department like other ministers,

14.  Gov. departmental Select Committees in the H of C scrutinize the
work of all major Gov. departments. They are the most effective
means of parliamentary scrutiny of the executive and decision-
making process.
 SCs have 11 backbench MP members who are elected by their
own party members, but uses to be selected by party whips.
 Each party is represented in proportion to the number of MPs it
has in the H of C.
 Committees gather written evidence and examine witnesses,
then report their findings and recommendations to the commons.
The Gov. must respond to all reports and usually has 60 days to
do so.
 There are 19 departmental SCs, one to shadow each dept.

15.  Their powers to derive from the H of C and include the ability to
meet outside Westminster, meet with other committees, appoint
outside specialist advisors and send for ‘People, Paper &
Records’.
 The SC system allows for the questioning of ministers & PMs and
forces them to explain themselves.
 However ministers/PM doesn't need to go before an SC, but it will
look like they are trying to hide something or cover it up. They are
likely to go to put their point of view across and ‘spin’ on an issue
 In 2010 the commons Committee of Public Accounts published a
report on the major projects of the Ministry of Defense (MOD).
Margaret Hodge MP, chair of the committee, criticized the Gov. &
MOD by stating that poor decisions had led to billions of pounds
being wasted with additional costs being met by tax payers. She
called on them to spell at how they were going to get their
defense procurement budget under control

16.  Because SC membership reflects the composition of the H of C,
a Gov. with a majority in the house also has a majority on
committees. This means that they will have to scrutinize their
own party. Some of these MPs will be ambitious and want to
become future ministers. Therefore will not want to get their
leadership in trouble or uncover wrong doing. Also they will not
want to embarrass their party within the SC where there's
opposition MPs
 Also witnesses can withhold important information. E.g. – When
foreign Affairs SC scrutinized the issues surrounding the Iraq war,
evidence was routinely withheld on the grounds that it would
compromise national security and undermine the work of the
intelligence services.
 Gov. is not bound by any recommendations made by SCs and
after giving its response to any recommendations it can simply
reject them

17.  2006 they were introduced to scrutinize legislation.
 However their composition still reflects the proportion of the
parties in parliament, meaning that the government retains
a majority on each committee – easing the passage of bills

18.  Gives MPs power to call for debates in Chamber and
Westminster Hall at least once a week
 Consists of only 8 MPs – 4 Conservatives, 3 Labour and 1
Liberal Democrat – Leading to the criticism that smaller
parties are being excluded

19.  A Backbench Rebellion is when ordinary MPs group together to
vote against their own party’s policies/bills
 To keep trouble makers in line, each party appoints a party whip
 The whip sends voting advice to MPs suggesting and even
demanding to vote with the party
 A 1 line whip strongly suggests to vote their way
 A 3 line whip demands that the MP follows party voting.
 A 3 line whip also means they must attend and if they don’t follow
the whip system they can be excluded from the party (this is
called having the whip removed)
 There is pressure to toe the party line but sometimes people will
expect their MP to vote the way they want which may be against
the Gov. or their own party
 If there are a lot of MPs denying the whip they are unlikely to be
excluded all at once

20.  Thatcher dominated her Cabinet and was a very strong
leader
 Tony Blair was a strong leader but he liked to make
decisions away from the Cabinet meetings. He preferred
working out solutions with a few trusted advisors in an
informal environment. E.g. – Sitting on the sofa of his office.
This was called ‘Sofa Government’
 Blair gave huge power to his chief spin doctor Alistair
Campbell (Press Secretary)
 Blair's reign became known as “The rise of spin,” trying to
manipulate media to make Blair and New Labour appear
good

21.  Gordon Brown’s style was that of a hands-on leader
involved in the detail and the doing of the work rather than
delegating – especially when it comes to special aides.
 He gave a limited role to cabinet. He came across as a
committed PM but austere and with poor communication
and people skills.
 According to Alistair Campbell there are 2 somewhat
conflicting aspects of David Cameron’s style of leadership
 On one hand he has taken the job as PM as to the manor
born. His time at Eton has given him an inner and outer
confidence that he puts to good use
 On the other hand when it comes to policy detail, Campbell
feels he does not go deep enough and so risks appearing to
be making it up as he goes along

22.  PM has ability to create a Cabinet in his or her own image. In
reality, a PMs power within the cabinet is limited by a need to
assuage the ambitions of party colleagues.
 Senior members and those who have been loyal and show
potential may expect to be included in the government regardless
of their own political views.
 PM is also restricted by the pool of MPs that is available; while it
is his or her only source. It can also provide obstacles.
 Subsequently the PM may be pushes into offering positions to
potential rivals and opponents; these people may be less trouble
inside the cabinet, where they are bound by the convention of
collective responsibility rather than outside it on the back
benches – where they could stir up dissent and be a focus for
rebels should a policy be controversial

23.  “Margaret Thatcher, Conservative PM form 1979 to 1990
was regarded as a strong and effective leader. Yet the ‘Iron
Lady’ was effectively forced out of office by her cabinet
colleagues in November 1990, thus demonstrating the
limitation of the office of the PM.”
 “PM Cameron had trouble with the right of his policies on
giving prisoners the vote, his Home Secretary's liberal views
on Law and Order and the cuts to Defense budget while the
international aid budget was maintained. In fact, Cameron
saw more of his own MPs rebel and faced more Revolts in
his 1st year in office than Tony Blair during the whole of his
2st term.”

24.  It is important that the PM retains the support of the party.
It is the party members who elect the leader; without their
support, the PM would not be leader and therefore could
not be the PM
 As some Conservative MPs began to show a relentlessness
and frustration at having to share power with the Liberal
Democrats while waiting for that promotion that might never
come, it is worth noting that 3 of Cameron’s 6 predecessors
were forced out by leadership election

25.  PM can be limited in achieving his or her aims through a
lack of support from the general public
 Changing the UK voting system was taken out of the hands
of the government and placed into the hands of the people
through a referendum

26.  Several key events limited Gordon Brown's power as PM and
eventually led to his defeat at the polls in 2010
 E.g. – The Global Financial Crisis, the unexpected backlash
over the Gurkha resettlement issue, the damaging MPs
expense controversies and ;the Bigot Gate’ incident,
followed by the resignation of several key cabinet members
were some of the events that indicated his dwindling power
and support

27.  Is the largest minority party and its purpose is to oppose
government of the day
 However the leader of the opposition occasionally has to
decide whether to set aside that purpose and offer limited
cooperation to the PM
 There is a leader of the largest opposition party (Currently
Labour Party with leader Ed Milliband in Commons)
 The leader of the opposition picks ‘a shadow cabinet’ to
follow and scrutinize the work of each government
department and policies bring developed

28. Powers of the Cabinet
 Cabinet has no legal powers; any powers that are assumed
to lie with the cabinet are held by secretaries of state
 Collective Responsibility – even if they were not present
when they were made
 PMs are now more likely to consult with external think
tanks, cabinet committees and special advisors before
making decisions
 E.g.- The Cabinet Office Briefing room (COBRA), which has
both ministers and non-Gov. officials take decisions on
national security in emergency situations. This leads to the
perception that the cabinet may be less powerful than once
was and is only there to rubber stamp decision that have
already been made or to present Gov. policy and decisions.

29.  Collective Responsibility: Members must agree publicly with
government policy even though the may privately disagree with it.
If they cannot do this they must resign
 PM selects Cabinet Ministers
 Cabinet does not always have time so delegate work to Cabinet
Committees
 Cabinet Ministers can be moved or sacked in a reshuffle
 Individual Ministerial responsibility: Ministers are responsible for
the conduct of themselves and their department. If they make
mistakes then traditionally they must sacrifice themselves and
resign
 For example – David Laws became the shortest serving minister
in history when he resigned as Chief Secretary to the treasury
after just 16 days because of expenses he should not have
claimed

30.  Lies at the center of government with the purpose of
making the government work better
 Supports the PM and Cabinet helping to ensure effective
development, co-ordination and implementations of policy's
and operations across of government departments

31.  Work of Cabinet is delegated to committees
 These committees reduce the burden on cabinet by enabling
collective decisions to be made by a smaller group of ministers
who are able to deal more efficiently with the large volume of
government business
 Often quick needs of decision making means that it is not
possible to involve the whole cabinet in many policy decisions. So
PM selects a smaller group of 4 or 5 ministers to form
committees
 Some committees are permanent while others are just set up for
a specific issue
 Cabinet committees now handle the majority of cabinetwork and
decisions they make have authority of the full cabinet
 In an event that a committee can’t agree, it will be sent to the full
cabinet for a final decision

32.  By Parliament we mean MPs (Backbenchers & others) and
the House of Lords.
 The H of L has around 750 members
 They scrutinize bills and vote on them and suggest
amendments (changes) to the bills.
 Today the lords are more assertive
 PM can appoint peers or peers can be hereditary meaning
the title has been passed down from their father. Hereditary
peers have been cut dramatically and down to about 72
 There has been reform at the H of L but it has not gone far
enough.
 there is debate of making the H of L elected however after
some reform has passed the H of L feels (and has the right)
more able to challenge the H of C

33.  Scrutinize Legislation
 Debate Issues
 Highlights concerns that will be usually picked up by the media and then
the public find out. H of L is televised
 However can be argued that H of L is getting important issues to the
public through being televised
 Sit in specialist committees. There are permanent committees on
Technology & Science, Economics, Europe, etc. these committees benefit
from the huge experience and expertise of the peers. Peers backgrounds
include athletics, acting, science, medicine, law, writing & politics.
Therefore these committees can give valuable advice, knowledge and
suggestions to the government
 Although the Lords cannot block a bill from becoming law. They can
however delay a bill for 1 year. In reality the H of C does accept some of
the decisions from the H oh L and will voluntarily rrop around half of the
bills that the lords don’t want. Many times delaying bills will
kill/disappear as the H of C don’t have time to debate then as they are
very busy