Ministers oversee specific areas. They run a department of civil servants, anyone who sits in the Houses of Parliament can be a minister.
Individual Responsibility
Convention that each minister is responsible for their own personal conduct and their department.
Collective Responsibility
Convention that ministers support Cabinet decisions or leave government.
Charles Clarke
Clarke's department released more than 1000 foreign prisoners without considering if they should be deported and could not account their location. After 10 days of negative headlines, Blair sacked Clarke as part of Cabinet reshuffles.
Priti Patel
Reports emerged that Patel had arranged meetings with Israeli politicians without approval of the Foreign Office, breaching ministerial code. She later apologised which May accepted.
Later that month, it emerged that Patel attended similar meetings. May recalled Patel from a meeting in Uganda and after a 45 minute meeting, Patel offered her resignation.
