UNITED KINGDOM: The Prime Minister and Cabinet

A look into the past

Until at least the 16th century,

individual Officers of State had separate property, powers and responsibilities granted with their separate offices by Royal Command, and the Crown and the Privy Council constituted the only co-ordinating authorities. In England, phrases such as "cabinet counsel", meaning advice given in private, in a cabinet in the sense of a small room, to the monarch, occur from the late 16th century, and, given the non-standardised spelling

 Charles I began a formal "Cabinet Council" from his

accession in 1625. The first recorded use of "cabinet" by itself for such a body comes from 1644, and is hostile and associates the term with dubious foreign practices.

 Since the reign of King George

I the Cabinet has been the principal executive group of British government. Both he and George II made use of the system, as both were non-native English speakers, unfamiliar with British politics, and thus relied heavily on selected groups of advisers. The term "minister" came into being since the royal officers "ministered" to the sovereign. The name and institution have been adopted by most English-speaking countries, and the Council of Ministers or similar bodies of other countries are often informally referred to as cabinets.

 The modern Cabinet system was set up by Prime

Minister David Lloyd George during his premiership, 1916 1922, with a Cabinet Office and Secretariat, committee structures, unpublished minutes, and a clearer relationship with departmental Cabinet ministers. (The formal procedures, practice and proceedings of the Cabinet remain largely unpublished, if not secret.)

FAST FACTS: The Prime Minister

The first person generally held by historians to be the

first Prime Minister was Robert Walpole Walpole established the basic features of the office and under him one can see the essential constitutional division between the monarch and the monarchs first minister The former remained as head of state, but the latter became the head of government Up to 2010, 52 men and one woman have been appointed Prime Minister Seven Prime Ministers have died in office, though the

 In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it was not

uncommon for the Prime Minister to sit in the House of Lords Most Prime Ministers have entered office having served an apprenticeship in other senior ministerial offices The most recent Prime Minister never to have held ministerial office before entering No. 10 Downing Street was David Cameron The Prime Minister heads the government

FAST FACTS: Cabinet Secretary

Cabinet meeting were often disorganised with no

one taking notes and civil servants had to approach ministers to discover what had been decided The situation changed notably in the twentieth century with the creation in 1916 of a Cabinet Secretariat and the appointment of a Cabinet Secretary

 The impetus for the change was the need for

efficiency in time of war, but the structure was maintained in peacetime The Secretariat served to ensure the recording and coordination of decisions, operating under the person who chaired the Cabinet the Prime Minister The position of the Prime Minister was also strengthened in 1919 with the creation of a unified civil service, under a Permanent Secretary as its head

FAST FACTS: Downing Street

Over time, Downing Street has expanded In addition to the private office, linking the Prime Minister

to Whitehall, the PMs Office has acquired a political office In 1970, a small body of advisers the Central Policy Review Staff (CPRS), commonly known as the think tank was established It comprised some political appointees and seconded civil servants to advise the Cabinet on policy issues It answered to the Cabinet through the Prime Minister, but came to be overshadowed by a body of advisers answering solely to the PM, the No. 10 Policy Unit The CPRS was wound up in 1983

 The expansion of the Prime Ministers Office has

meant that there are now approximately two hundred people working in 10 Downing Street Though the Prime Ministers Office is formally a part of the Cabinet Office, it nonetheless now has its own Permanent Secretary The size of the staff supporting the Prime Minister is such that not all can be accommodated in 10 Downing Street The Permanent Secretary, for example, is housed principally in 12 Downing Street

THE HOUSE OF LORDS

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

THE PRIME MINISTER

Prime Minister of the

United Kingdom
First Lord of the

Treasury
Minister for the Civil

Service

DAVID CAMERON In office since 12 May

The role of the Prime Minster

The Prime Minister has several key roles. These include:
Head of the executive Head of government policy

Party leader
Head appointing officer Party leader in Parliament

Senior UK representative abroad

The Powers of the Prime Minister

The Prime Minister is the most powerful

person in government, but exercises no statutory powers Instead his powers exist by convention His main powers include:
Appoints, shuffles and dismisses ministers Chairs the Cabinet

Controls Whitehall
Dispenses honours and public appointments

 The Prime Minister chooses who else will be in

Government A new Prime Minister appoints over one hundred ministers Which ministers will form the Cabinet, and their ranking within Cabinet, is a matter for the PM However often their ability to appoint people is dependent upon their strength within the party Appointing and moving ministers may be undertaken not only for the purposes of reward but also to reflect the PMs political values

Chairing the Cabinet

The PM not only decides who will be in the

Cabinet, but also decides:

When it will meet What it will discuss What it has decided

The Cabinet normally meets once a week, but

under some PMs it has met more frequently The agenda is determined by the PM and the manner of discussion is also influenced by them Some premiers encourage free-ranging discussion, others prefer more concise contributions

 The PM not only decides the composition of Cabinet

but also what Cabinet committees will be created The Cabinet, a large body meeting once a week, is not in a position to transact all the business of government Most policy proposals are considered by Cabinet committees Only if there is disagreement in committee (and if the chair of the committee agrees) is an issue referred to Cabinet The PM decides who will chair the committees as well as who will serve on them

Control of Whitehall
The Prime Minister decides who shall be the

ministerial heads of departments He or she can also create, abolish or merge departments, as well as determine who shall be the civil service heads of those departments The senior civil service appointments are also the responsibility of the Prime Minister Tony Blair was very keen to press for civil service change in order to enhance policy delivery and to combat what he termed departmentalitis

Dispensing honors and public appointments

The PM formally advises the monarch on who should

receive particular honours and who should be appointed to public posts in the gift of the Crown This means that in effect the PM determines who gets what honours These can include peerages but also who is appointed to various public bodies like the board of the BBC Equally roles in certain universities and the church can be in the gift of the PM Because there are so many, in most cases the PM employs a team of advisors to deal with this work for

Other powers
The Prime Minister has the power to advise the

monarch as to when a general election shall be held The PMs political capital is also enhanced by other aspects of his office as well as by the fact that he is party leader As head of government, the PM attends various international gatherings The importance of the office also means that there is significant media attention attached to it

The Cabinet
Deputy Prime Minister

of the United Kingdom

Lord President of the

Council

Nick Clegg In office since 12 May

William Hague First Secretary of State Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 12 May 2010

George Osborne Chancellor of the Exchequer 12 May 2010

Philip Hammond Secretary of State for Defence 14 October 2011

Theresa May Secretary of State for the Home Department 12 May 2010

Michael Gove Secretary of State for Education 12 May 2010

Chris Grayling Lord Chancellor Secretary of State for Justice

Iain Duncan Smith Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 12 May 2010

Vince Cable President of the Board of Trade Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and

Eric Pickles Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 12 May 2010

Jeremy Hunt Secretary of State for Health 4 September 2012

Edward Davey Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change 3 February 2012

Patrick McLoughlin Secretary of State for Transport 4 September 2012