PM and executive

• Effective Prime Minister


  Can use their powers of patronage to shape the top team in a way that enhances their power and enables them to promote their policy priorities and agenda, removing poor performers, bringing in fresh talent and promoting ideological allies
• New Prime Ministers often remove former Cabinet Ministers and replace them with their own allies they know they can rely on to share and drive through their vision
• When Liz Truss became Prime Minister, she removed important members of Johnson's cabinet including Priti Patel, Nadine Dorries and Dominic Raab
• Rishi Sunak did this too, bringing back Dominic Raab as Justice Secretary, Michael Gove as Levelling Up Secretary and Suella Braverman as Home Secretary, despite her having been sacked by Truss for breaking the Ministerial Code
• Prime Ministers are able to sack ministers

  If they seek to undermine their authority by breaking collective ministerial responsibility and use the threat of this to keep ministers in line
• When Sunak was Chancellor in Boris Johnson's government, he publicly supported and voted for the Northern Ireland Protocol that was a key part of Johnson's Brexit deal


  But when Sunak became Prime Minister himself, he criticised the Northern Ireland Protocol and replaced it
• This shows how Prime Minister Boris Johnson was able to use collective ministerial responsibility to dominate the cabinet, as Sunak may have privately disagreed with the government's Northern Ireland Protocol, but he publicly supported it in the media, as otherwise he may have been sacked
• Prime Minister's power of patronage

  Shouldn't be overstated as they have to represent different factions of the party to maintain their authority over large and often divided parties, which limits the extent to which they can appoint allies who will be easy to manage
• Theresa May appointed a cabinet with a balance between Brexiteers (including Boris Johnson and David Davis) and Remainers (including Phillip Hammond and Jeremy Hunt)
• Despite being a very popular and powerful Prime Minister, Tony Blair's power was significantly limited by his Chancellor Gordon Brown
• Brown effectively denied Blair his wish to join the European Single Currency, by devising 5 economic tests that would first have to be passed and insisting that the treasury would determine when they had been met
• When Foreign Secretary in Theresa May's government, Boris Johnson consistently leaked his dissatisfaction with government policy and briefed against the Prime Minister, including writing critical weekly articles in the Daily Telegraph
• Due to his popularity within the Conservative Party, particularly with Brexiteers, and May's weakness as a Prime Minister, she wasn't able to sack him, though
• This shows how she was unable to dominate the cabinet
• Prime Minister's power of patronage


  Gives them significant power to control their cabinet and shape it in a way that enhances their power, but this power is limited by the need to give significant power to 'big beasts', represent different factions and by the fact that collective ministerial responsibility often breaks down under weak Prime Ministers
• Overall, all Prime Ministers aren't able to dominate their cabinets, particularly Prime Ministers who are weak and unpopular
• Prime Minister can bypass the cabinet

  When determining government policy through informal committees, SPADs and the growth of Downing Street
• Rather than using the cabinet to determine policy, they often decide it beforehand using these methods and then effectively announce policy in Cabinet meetings
• Prime Ministers have more control in smaller forums


  It is easier to reach a compromise with one or two key ministers than the whole cabinet
• Tony Blair negotiated with Chancellor Gordon Brown to determine economic policy, whilst he often used bi-lateral meetings with important ministers to determine policy on a particular area, as he felt he could use them to talk ministers around to his view
• Blair's style of governing

  Was dubbed 'sofa government' as he largely shunned the cabinet
• Theresa May used the committee on exiting the European Union to make important decisions on Brexit, whilst Boris Johnson used the COVID-19 Strategy committee to make key decisions on COVID restrictions, with Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove having particular power within it
• Special Advisors (SPADs)


  Occupy an important role in Downing Street and in decision making, they are unelected and are hired directly by the Prime Minister, working closely with them to develop government strategy
• John Major had just 8 special advisors, but by 2005 Tony Blair had thirty
• Dominic Cummings held a very significant amount of power in Boris Johnson's government, arguably far more than any cabinet minister or other member of government
• Boris Johnson even took a significant hit to his government's popularity to defend Cummings after he broke COVID rules by driving from London to Barnard Castle
• Growth of Downing Street

  Modern Prime Ministers are well supported, in the past they had little central support and relied a great deal on the Cabinet as ministers had the administrative support of large departments
• Under Blair, the Prime Minister played a key role in developing long-term policies using the Strategy Unit and using the Delivery Unit to monitor the delivery of policy across government, with Blair playing a key role in driving through Health and Education policy in particular
• UK Government operates under a core-executive model


  Power is very fragmented and the Prime Minister can't control all of government policy, instead they seek to act as managers, using their appointments power and their ability to offer some coordination in an effort to gain as much influence as possible
• When Theresa May was seeking to introduce a Brexit deal, the hardline Brexiteers in her cabinet (as well as the DUP and the fact she lacked a majority), including Boris Johnson, had a lot of influence due to their support among the party and forced Theresa May to a harder Brexit deal
• When developing policy, David Cameron had to consult key members of his cabinet, particularly Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, to ensure they would have wide support
• The cabinet is also highly important for a government to project unity to the public and make important decisions during a crisis, as joined up decision making between departments is essential
• During COVID, Johnson not only wanted to present a united front, but also relied a lot on government ministers, especially Health Secretary Matt Hancock
• Popular Prime Ministers with big majorities can certainly bypass the cabinet to a large extent and determine some key areas of policy themselves, but they ultimately still rely on them to run departments and deliver policy, particularly in emergencies
• When the Prime Minister is weak, they struggle a lot more in bypassing their cabinet
• Spatial Leadership


  Concept that suggests Prime Ministers are becoming more like US presidents by distancing themselves from the party and government for which they are responsible, presenting themselves as outsiders and developing personal popularity with the public using the media in particular
• Tony Blair was very successful in courting support from the right-wing press and developing his personal image, and due to his very high popularity at the start of his premiership, he was able to determine a lot of government policy himself, for example in health and education, where there was a lot of centralised control
• The last 3 Prime Ministers - May, Johnson and Truss - were ultimately removed by their cabinets and the wider Conservative Party after becoming unpopular
• Margaret Thatcher was ultimately removed by her cabinet despite her big majority, in part due to her pursuing the Poll Tax in 1989/90 despite opposition from all sides, including within her own party, and without consulting local authorities fully
• Popular Prime Ministers are able to use their personal popularity to drive through key policies, but this is entirely dependent on their popularity