- RETURN TO CABINET GOVERNMENT
- The need for both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties to negotiate policy strengthened the role of cabinet under the Coalition.
- The cabinet met much more regularly than under the previous Labour government, meeting every Tuesday for up to 2 hours.
- All papers for Cabinet Committees had to explain the steps taken to ensure both parties supported each policy.
- It has also been reported that, under Theresa May’s leadership, cabinet and even bilateral meetings have become much more formal.
- The Prime Minister’s office now contains a large glass meeting table, which many have taken as a sign that May does not intend to conduct informal meetings on the sofa, like her predecessors.
- Rather than move quickly with new legislative proposals, ministers have been encouraged to produce green papers, followed by white papers and then bills. Cabinet meetings have been said to become more open discussions, with the PM listening to suggestions, rather than sticking to a pre-determined plan.
- After six months in power, some media commentators began to criticise May’s government for a lack of policy announcements.
- But others countered that, if May is genuinely seeking to lead a cooperative cabinet government, rather than a more informal ‘sofa government’, it is inevitable that decisions will take some time.
- LIMITS TO PATRONAGE/PREROGATIVE POWERS
- As Theresa May came to power in the wake of the EU referendum, she was under considerable pressure to ensure that her cabinet did not solely consist of MPs who had supported the ‘Remain’ campaign. May decided to give positions that were key to Brexit, such as Foreign Secretary, International Trade Secretary and Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, to Boris Johnson, Liam Fox, and David Davis, all of whom had vocally supported the ‘Leave’ campaign.
- Under the Coalition government, the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg appointed 5 of the 23 cabinet ministerial posts and 20 out of the 102 remaining government posts.
- Following the 2016 EU referendum, the Conservative Government was confident that it could rely upon prerogative powers to trigger Article 50 to begin exit negotiations, however, the Supreme Court ruled that beginning the process of withdrawing from the EU would ultimately have the effect of rendering the European Communities Act (1972) meaningless and As only our sovereign Parliament can amend or repeal an existing Act of Parliament, new legislation was needed, regardless of the referendum result.
- In 2019, Parliament was ordered to be prorogued by the Queen upon the advice of Johnson, however, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the prorogation was both justiciable and unlawful, and therefore null and of no effect.
- COMFORT OF EMPLOYMENT
- The PM still does not share the comfort of their employment in the same way that a President does.
- They are at all times vulnerable to a vote of no confidence from the House of Commons, whereas the removal process is much more difficult for a President (who must commit a crime to be removed.)
- Equally, if we observe Theresa May’s time in office, we can see a rise in the voice of Cabinet who have taken no guilt in addressing the nation in their own way, even if it contradicts the Prime Minister.
- A good example of this is when Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary set out his own Brexit plan in a popular broadsheet newspaper, completely rejecting cabinet collective responsibility.
Tony Blair’s precedent of calling a vote before going into a major international conflict has meant that the PM can no longer operate their prerogative power of declaring war, something that a President holds in many cases. We saw this reduction in power in 2013 when David Cameron lost in the House of Commons on a vote that would have sent drone strikes into Libya. If he were a President, he could have sent those strikes without the consent of the legislature.