Evaluating Britain's Government

Evaluating Britain's Government

A Cabinet Government is referred to a government in which most

executive power is invested in a cabinet, in which members often act

with collective responsibility and so must support all Governmental

decisions made in Cabinet, even if they do not privately agree with

them. A Prime Ministerial Government on the other hand, is a

government where the prime minister is dominant in terms of the

executive and is able to bypass the cabinet.

There has been a debate in the British political system about whether

Britain has a Prime Ministerial or Cabinet government since the early

1960s. This was mainly because of two events that occurred in 1962.

Firstly, the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismissed one third of

his Cabinet which resulted in the unpopularity of the government.

Secondly, Richard Crossman suggested that the term Prime Ministerial

government was more appropriate than the term Cabinet government. The

Macmillan incident suggested that the Prime Minister had strong powers

that he could use to appoint, dismiss and control his colleagues in

the Cabinet. There are several reasons due to which this debate is

once again emerged as an important theme.

Firstly, the Prime Minister controls a large number of posts which

gives him more patronage power. This means that the Prime Minister is

responsible for appointing key figures such as the senior judges, the

archbishops and bishops of the Church of England, senior military

officers, the Governor of the Bank of England, and many others.

Sometimes other members of the parliament may appoint these important

key posts, but there is a certain amount of Prime Ministerial

influence to them.

Secondly, the Cabinet meetings have become less frequent and shorter.

This suggests that the Cabinet has lost importance. For instance, in

the past the Prime Minister Question sessions were held twice a week

for 15 minutes each, but Tony Blair changed it to one half an hour

session every Wednesday. This also suggests that few important

decisions are made in the Cabinet and most of them are just made by