Ministerial responsibility

• collective responsibility: the principle by which ministers must support Cabinet decisions or leave the executive
• Doctrine of collective ministerial responsibility principles:

  1. ministers are collectively responsible for all gov policies
  2. all ministers must publicly support all gov policies, even if they privately disagree
  3. if a minister wishes to dissent publicly, they are expected to resign as a minister first (return to back bench)
  4. if a minister dissents without resigning they can expect to be dismissed by the PM
  5. mad Cabinet meetings are secret, any dissent within gov is concealed
• Collective responsibility provides support for prime ministerial power and enhances their authority as they will not experince open dissent from within gov
• Collective responsibility also ensures gov presents a united front to the public, parliament and media
• Payroll vote: gov can rely upon the votes of all ministers in any close division in the Commons (120 votes).
• Argued collective responsibility prevents ministers expressing their opinions
• 3 exceptions to collective responsibility:

  1. coalition period (2010-2015)
  2. Referendum on leaving the EU
  3. Theresa May (2017 - 2019)
• Exception to collective responsibility (coalition): it applied but not to all policy, for example ministers were allowed to disagree on the Trident nuclear submarine missile system
• Exception to collective responsibility (Theresa May): failed to exert collective responsibility as various Cabinet ministers became openly critical of her Brexit deal, suggesting the doctrine depends more on the strength and authority of the PM
• Collective responsibility is a negative aspect:

  • puts too much power into the hands of the PM
  • ministers can’t be openly honest about their views on policies, may stifle debate within gov
  • resignations under the doctrine are dramatic events that may seriously undermine gov
• Collective responsibility is a positive aspect:

  • creates a gov that is united, strong and decisive
  • the public, parliament and the media are presented with a clear, single version of government policy
  • though ministers cannot dissent publicly, the confidentially of the Cabinet means they can have honest discussions in private
• Individual ministerial responsibility is not eroded: Priti Patel 2017 arranged and attended meetings in Aug with Israeli politicians without approval from the Foreign and Commonwealth office (FCO) breaching ministerial code - she eventually resigned
• Individual ministerial responsibility is not eroded: it was revealed through a letter Amber Rudd was fully aware of the 10% target to wrongly deport immigrants and she resigned
• Individual ministerial responsibility is not eroded: Sajid Javid regularly clashed with Johnson’s special adviser Dominic Cummings so he was made to replace all his advisers with people chosen by Johnson and Cumming’s or leave his pose - which he did
• Individual ministerial responsibility is eroded: Gavin Williamson refused to resign over outcry from the grading system used when A level and GCSEs were cancelled, the head of Ofqual resigned instead
• Individual ministerial responsibility is eroded: Chris Grayling headed the introduction of new railway timetables which caused chaos and there were huge failures to respond to the problem, he apologies but did not take responsibility and resign
• Individual ministerial responsibility is eroded: Priti Patel did not resign over accusations of bullying only issued an apology, the most senior member of the civil service resigned over her actions