Ministerial responsibility

• Define collective ministerial responsibility

  The principle that ministers must support cabinet decisions or resign from the government. Ministers usually part of a party and unity can be undermined by rivalries.

  
  

  Departments provide ministers with authority, policy advice and technical information, so they may be tempted to act as departmental chiefs rather than members of a collegiate body.
• CMR 1 Secrecy

  details of discussions within the cabinet ensuring that sensitive information does not enter the public domain.
• CMR 2 Binding decisions

  once decision is reached, it becomes binding on all ministers regardless of whether they had opposed it or were not directly involved in decision making. (examples of ministers who have resigned over government policy) - Robin Cook (2003) Iaian Duncan Smith (2016), many during Blair and Brown government
• CMR 3 Confidence vote

  Government must resign if it is defeated in a vote of confidence

  Last happened in 1979 when James Callaghan's Labour government lost a vote of confidence after its bill on Scottish Devolution was defeated in the Commons.
• Michael Heseltine CMR

  Michael Heseltine

  Date

  1986

  Details

  Secretary of state for defence

  Opposed defence procurement policy (Westland affair)
• Robin Cook CMR


  Name

  Robin Cook

  Date

  2003

  Details

  President of the Council and leader of the House of Commons

  Opposed invasion of Iraq
• Ian Duncan Smith CMR

  Iain Duncan Smith

  Date

  2016

  Details

  Secretary of state for work and pensions

  Opposed cuts to disability benefits in budget

  Cameron 'Puzzled' because he had agreed to the cits before the budget and the government had since agreed that the cuts would not go ahead
• Exception to CMR Temporary suspension during referendums


  • To prevent ministerial resignations

  • Harold Wilson allowed ministers to campaign for either a 'yes' or 'no' vote during the 1975 referendum on the EEC

  • Despite the government supporting a 'yes' vote

  • Allowing the government that was divided on Europe to function in a more united fashion on other issues

  • Happened again during the 2011 Alternative vote referendum Conservative and Liberal Democrat ministers were permitted by the coalition agreement to campaign on opposite sides

  • 2016 referendum Cameron allowed ministers to take a personal decision to campaign to leave the EU, even though the government's position was to support EU membership

  • They were denied access to civil service resources to support their position on the EU

  • Were required to support the government's position on all other issues

  • 5 cabinet ministers (plus Boris Johnson, who attended cabinet but was not a full member) campaigned to leave the EU.
• Exception to CMR Coalition

  • E.g. 2010 Conservative LibDem coalition

  • Agreed on 4 issues that Liberal Democrat ministers would not be bound by collective responsibility

  • Permitted to abstain on the construction of new nuclear power stations, tax allowances for married coupled, and higher education funding, to make the case against renewal of Trident nuclear deterrent

  • Minister free to vote on different sides of the 2011 referendum on the alternative vote

  • CMR Broke down were significant differences appeared

  • Libdems responded to the abandonment of legislation on the House of Lords reform by withdrawing support for constituency boundary changes, with their ministers voting against the changes in 2013

  • General election neared, trade-off between government unity and party distinctiveness became more difficult to manage

  • Mot liberal Democrat minister voted in favour of a 2014 private members bill which proposed exception to the government's 'bedroom tax', while conservative Ministers opposed it

  • Conservative ministers voted in favour of a private members' bill proposing that an EU referendum be held by the end of 2017 but Liberal Democrats did not
• Exception to CMR Free votes

  • May be granted to ministers as well as backbench MPs on issues of conscience

  • Labour's 1997 election manifesto promised a free vote on legislation to ban fox hunting

  • Cameron allowed a free vote on the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill in 2013

  • Two cabinet minister votes against the bill
• Strains of collective responsibility LEAKS

  • Disgruntled ministers and their advisers may leak information on cabinet discussions to the media

  • May want dissatisfaction about the poliy or conduct of government to go viral

  • But do want to go public with their criticism

  • Cabinet discussions have also been revealed in books written by formed minsters such as Ed Balls and Nick Clegg
• Strains of collective responsibility DISSENT AND NON-RESIGNATION

  • Ministers who oppose important aspects of government policy have survived in office

  • Even when their concerns have been made public

  • 'wets' in Thatcher's first cabinet scarcely concealed their opposition to her economic policy

  • Non resigned and Thatcher dismissed them only when her position was secure

  • LibDems ministers were openly critical of some Coalition policies (2010-15) but only one junior minister (Norman Baker) resigned over policy differences
• Strains of collective responsibility PRIME MINISTERIAL DOMINANCE

  • Some cabinet minsters who served under Thatcher and Blair claimed that the prime minster had undermined collective responsibility by ignoring the cabinet

  • Michael Heseltine, Nigel Lawson and Sir Geoffrey Howe all cited Thatcher's contempt for collegiality when resigning

  • Mo Mowlam and Clare Short complained that Blair did not consult cabinet sufficiently
• Define individual ministerial responsibility:

  Principle that misters are accountable to parliament for their personal conduct, the general conduct of their department and the policies they and their department pursue, and the actions of officials within their departments. Governments have redefined the convention so that minsters should not be held personally responsible for

  • Decision made in their department without their knowledge

  • Operational matters handled by officials in departments or executive agencies

  Meaning that ministers (and their departments) are accountable to parliament
• Examples of individual ministerial responsibility

  Chris Grailing

  1. 1954, Home Secretary Sir David Maxwell- Fyfe stated that ministers cannot be held responsible for decisions taken by civil servants without their knowledge, or which they disagreed with.

  THERFORE: ministers are not obliged to resign if failing are constitutionally responsible for informing parliament of the actions of their department

  1. 1996, Scott Report on the sale of arms to Iraq stated that ministers had a duty to be as open as possible, withholding information only when disclosure would not be in the public interest, but ministers were culpable only if they misled parliament 'knowingly'

  2. The ministerial code states that ministers must give 'accurate and truthful information to Parliament... (those who) knowingly mislead Parliament will be expected to offer their resignation'

  3. Immigration minister Beverly Hughes resigned in 2004 after admitting that she had unwittingly given parliament a 'misleading impression' on check on migrants from easter Europe
• Explain the difference between policy and operational decisions:

  • Ministers are responsible for policy

  • Officials are responsible for day-to-day operational matters

  • Head of the UK boarder Force, Brodie Clark, resigned in 2011 after border controls were relaxed without ministerial agreement

  • Went beyond a pilot scheme requiring fewer checks on passengers by also suspending some passport checks

  • Action that had not been authorised by the home secretary Theresa May

  • Transfer of policy implementation functions from government department to executive agencies has added to the complexity surrounding ministerial responsibility
• 1. mistakes within departments:

  • Explanation: Within departments, ministers can be resonsiple for mistakes and disasters, tainting their appearance as someone who was capable to authority and power.

  
  

  • Example:

  Agriculture minister Sir Thomas Dugdale resigned in 1954 when mistakes made by civil servants in the Crichel Down case came to light. Concerned the compulsory purchase by the government of 700 arces of privately owned farmland in Crichel Down, Dorset, for use as a bombing range shortly before the Second World War. Land never returned to owners as promised - ERROR MADE BY CIVIL SERVATNS. Had known what they were doing but had not sought to stop them

  Showed the convention of ministeral responsibily that states that ministers should rectify minor mistakes made by officals and should not resign if they did not know of or approve mistakes made within their departments .

  
  

  Sale of arms to Iraq (1996) and BSE (2000) uncovered mistakes in departments but ministers survived

  
  

  Ministers remained in post when errors by civil servants forced the cancellation of competition for the West Coast Main Line franchise in 2012
• Personal misconduct

  • Explanation:

  Ministers expected to follow the 'seven principled of public life' set out by the 1995 Nolan Committee

  Selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, hounest and leadership

  Set up after the 'cash for questions' case which led to the resignations of Neil Hamilton and Tom Smith

  • Example:

  Ministers who did break the ministerial Code are expected to resign (as Liam Fox did in 2011 for Personal misconduct - working relationship with special adviser)

  Peter Mandelson (allegations of abuse of office in 2001) and David Blunkett (allegations of abuse of office 2001) both left the Blair Cabinet twice after allegations about their private interests and conduct in in office

  Expenses scandals and criminal investigations have also brought about resignations

  A number of ministers have remained in office despite press revelations about their private lives

  CECIL PARKINSON - 1983, extra marital affair

  BROOKS NEWMARK - 1014, sent explicit images to undercover reporter whilst being minister for civil society/
• Policy failure

  • Explanation:

  Minsiters resign after policies that they have implemented fail to work.

  • Example:

  Chancellor of the Exchequer James Callaghan after the 1967 devaluation of sterling

  Became home secretary in cabinet reshuffle

  Norman Lamont did not resign as chancellor when Stirling was devalued after being forced of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992

  Foreign secretary Lord Carrington resigned after Argentina invaded the Falklands Islands in 1982

  Defence secretary John Nott remained in office as Thatcher refused to access his resignation
• Political pressure

  • Explanation:

  Not attitubed to a single polciy or scandal

  Follow a period of sustained pressure from parliament, the party or the press about a minister's performae

  
  

  • Example:

  Chief whip Andrew Mitchell resigned in 2012

  Weeks after he was alleged to have insulted police officers at the entrance to Downing street, after pressure on his position escaleted

  A minister is unlikely to remain in office if the prime minister considered ongogin negative publcity to be too damaging government.
• Explain the differences between collective and individual ministerial responsibility:


  CMR means that all members of the government are responsible as a group, agreeing that discussions should be kept secret, decisions made in government are binding on all ministers and the government as a whole must resign if defeated on a vote of confidence in parliament.

  IMR is the principle that ministers are accountable to parliament for their personal conduct and that of their department and polices. This means that ministers are not responsible for decisions made in their department without their knowledge or operation matters handled by officials in departments or executive agencies.
• How do the conventions around collective ministerial responsibility (CMR) and individual ministerial responsibility (IMR) impact on the powers of the PM and their ability to influence events?


  • Means that they might loose power, accepting that most of their misniters disagree with them so they have to change their position in order to keep support within their party

  • Helps them to run an effienct party and government, with the rules of IMR encouraging departments to ensure that properly made decisions are taking place and communication is effective

  • Keeps a sense of unity within the party, but can also make divisions more stark.
• Michael Howard


  Home Sectretary, leader of conservative party before Cameron. One of his proteges

  1997 - interviewed by Jeremy Paxman

  Derek Lewis head of the prison service - prison break out

  Asking if Michael Howard overreuled a decision made by Michael Howard over whether to sack the governor of Parkhurst Prison

  OPPERATIONAL RESONSIPBULITY - Derek Lewis is an official

  POLICY - set by the government. Ministers are responsible

  Did not end up resigning
• David Davis

  David Davis: July 2018 (+Boris Johnson)

  Stepped down as Brexit secretary just before midday night on Sunday

  WHY: Chequers plan

  IMPORTANCE: Lack of confidence evoked in

  In his letter, the leading Brexiteer said the current policy that was agreed upon made leaving the single market and the customs union "less and less likely".
• Esther McVey


  ESTHER MCVEY Nov 2018

  WHY: Brexit, 'This is a matter of trust. It is about the future of our country and the integrity of our democracy.' After Dominic Rabb and Shailesh Vara. Harsh draft agreement. Said it was 'obvious to everyone that the deal does not offer the result of his referendum'

  IMPORTANCE: Less support for Thresa May, divisions increasing within the cabinet.
• Geoffrey Howe (Foreign secretary and home secretary


  1990

  HoC speech of resignation devastating.

  Did not like the way that Thatcher was negotiated with Europe of the European exchange rate mechanism.

  Beginning of the end for Thatcher.

  CMR, did not respect her or her cabinets reflective stance
• Peter Mandelson - architect of new labour. Key Blair ally


  1. 1998

  •

  1. Incepted an interest free loan from Geoffrey Robinson. DTI had been investigating him. Conflict of interest clear

  2. 1999 made secretary of state for Northern Ireland (Showing PM strength, fact that they had the support of the media, Mandelson's importance to him, mainstream press on side) and minister for the Millenium Dome. Hinduja borthers gave a lot of money to the 'Faith Zone' and attempted to get a passport for him. RESIGNATION

  •

  
  

  Showed New Labour out of touch with its official roots

  IMR - individual culpability
• Damien Green


  RESIGNED 2017. occurred 2008

  Viewing Porn on HoC computor

  Key ally of Threasa May

  
  

  
  

  Because May brought him into Downing street after 2017 election, key ally and long term friend. Appointed to Cab. 2017 GE)

  IMR
• Chris Huhne (Climate and Energy Secretary)

  Lib Dem minister during coalition

  Him and his wife jailed for 8 months as he was speeding and his wife took the points for him and then they both lied about it in court.
• Breixt

  Amber Rudd - voted down Mays deal in meaningful vote and did not resign
• Ministers are accountable to Parliament through various mechanisms such as answering questions, giving evidence at select committee hearings, and appearing before the House of Commons or Lords.
• Parliament has the power to remove a Minister from office through a vote of no confidence or by dismissing them under Section 2(1) of the Ministerial Code.