PM & THE EXECUTIVE

• individual ministerial responsibility

  -In 2022 Suella-Braverman resigned for breaching ministerial code by senior a sensitive official 

  document from her personal email account- reappointed 6 days later by Rishi Sunak  

  -2021 Matt Hancock resigned after breaching Covid rules in a scandalous affair after Tory MPs, 

  ministers and grassroots Conservatives defied Boris Johnson and demanded he be dismissed 

  from government 
• INDIVIDUAL Ministerial responsibility- 

  -2018 Wind Rush Scandal- Amber Rudd resigns 

  -Priti Patel had to resign as International development secretary in November 2017 on 

  authorised meetings with Israeli Politicians 

  -Priti Patel however managed to survive bullying claims under Johnson due to having his 

  backing 
• Collective Ministerial Responsibility- 

  Strained by coalitions- 2010 coalition meant over certain issues the cabinet were allowed to 

  disagree due to different manifestos 

  Because Trident renewal and the construction of new nuclear power stations were not in the 

  coalition agreement- collective responsibility didn't apply 
• collective ministerial responsibility

  Allowed Cameron to campaign against AV in 2011 calling it "undemocratic" 

  2016 EU referendum strained CMR even further due to the extent of disunity within the 

  party that it had to be suspended to allow MP's to campaign on either the leave/remain side 

  Cabinet 
• May had to balance the cabinet with remain/leave supporters to ensure unity- appointed 

  Amber Rudd (remain) and Boris Johnson and David Davies (leave) 
• Sunak had to appoint Hunt as Chancellor due to his economic expertise 
• Sunak had to appoint Braverman to the cabinet to appease the right wing of the party 
• 2010- Cameron had to give up 5 places in the cabinet to the LibDems 
• In 2018 Hunt refused Mays attempt to demote him from then Department of Health and 

  actually allowed him to expand his role to Health and Social Care Secretary 
• 1997- Blairs 179 seat majority meant the cabinet was irrelevant "they'll agree" 
• Prime Ministers Strategy Unit and PM's Delivery Unity- challenged autonomy of cabinet 

  ministers by setting department targets and monitoring their performance (Cameron 

  abolished these roles) 
• Press Office under Alastair Campbell became more prominent in government ensuring that 

  Downing Street had more control over how many news stories were presented and 

  responded to. 
• May did not consult cabinet over 2018 Syria Air Strikes 
• Cameron had to lose 5 seats of cabinet and had to accept an AV referendum in 2011 due to 

  the coalition 
• Camerons resignation in 2016 demonstrates how PM's cannot always control events 
• Cameron failed to persuade parliament to support bombing President Assad in 2013 
• Cameron associated same sex marriage legislation with himself- not the cabinet 
• Blair- 

  2003 Iraq War- Blair took the case for it straight to the people not the cabinet- failed to 

  advise the cabinet 

  Before the cabinet had even met- Blair + Gordon Brown had already decided to give interest 

  raising powers to the Bank of England 
• hatcher in 1983 won the Falkland's war-> increased parliamentary majority to 144- neither 

  Michael Foot nor Neil Kippock was able to effectively challenge her policies in the commons 
• 2010-2015 coalition meant that Cameron could survive even a significant backbench 

  rebellion. 
• 2005-2010 Blairs influence was in decline due to controversies surrounding the 2003 Iraq 
• 2004- Blair's majority was reduced to 66 seats and and he won with he support of just 

  35.2% of electorate- backbenchers became less loyal and Blair lost his first vote in 2005 over 

  increasing detention for terrorist suspects to 90 days. 
• 2019- May called a snap election- lost majority and had to rely on support from DUP 
• COnservative gov unrepresentative since 2019, multiple unelected prime ministers