www.hoddereducation.co.

uk/politicsreview

Volume 30, Number 1, September 2020

Edexcel UK politics

The prime minister and the

executive
In the 1980s and 90s there was a sense of longevity in the position of prime ministers (PMs), with
Thatcher’s premiership lasting 11 years, Major’s 7 years and Blair’s 10 years. In the 13 years since
Blair’s resignation, the UK has had four PMs — Brown, Cameron, May and Johnson.

There are a multitude of examples you can use to inform both source-based questions and essays on
the topic of the relationship of the PM and executive. If you follow the strategies outlined here to
organise your writing, you will be able to write an excellent answer.

Source-based questions
To what extent does the prime minister dominate parliamentary proceedings?

Paragraph taken from Anthony Seldon’s article in this month’s Politics Review (September 2020):

However qualified and capable a PM, they can do little if they don’t have a significant majority
in Parliament. A parliamentary majority allows PMs to concentrate on their job without having
to worry endlessly about securing a majority for legislation in Parliament. For a prime minister
not to be troubled by their own rebels, they usually need a majority of over 30.

To tackle this kind of question, use the source as a springboard for your answer. Highlight short
quotations (three or four words only) that allow you to create an argument that both supports and
challenges the question. Using two different colours will make this much clearer. In this extract, you
could highlight ‘they can do little’, ‘allows PMs to concentrate’ and ‘not to be troubled’. Once you have
highlighted these quotations, you then need to think of examples that will allow you to expand upon
these ideas. It is essential that you start with the source, rather than with your own ideas.

Examples
 ‘they can do little’: May after 2017 and her failure to pass legislation on leaving the EU.

 ‘allows PMs to concentrate’: Thatcher after 1979, passing legislation on privatisation and
deregulation.

Your examples do not have to agree with the points made in the source. You need to ensure that you
have a counter-argument, and your examples can help you do this.

 ‘not to be troubled’: Blair’s sizable majority allowed him to win approval on the invasion of Iraq
in 2003, although this victory was later to undermine his own position as prime minister.
Despite Johnson wining a significant majority in 2019, he has already experienced two defeats
in votes in the House of Commons. However, unlike May, his majority has allowed him to
achieve what she failed to do — exit the EU.

Hodder & Stoughton © 2020 www.hoddereducation.co.uk/politicsreview

 www.hoddereducation.co.uk/politicsreview

Organisation
Once you have highlighted your source and chosen your examples, you then need to organise your
quotations into themes, so that these themes can form the basis of each paragraph. In the above
section of a source, the focus is on the importance of a parliamentary majority, and this would be the
theme of one paragraph. A longer source — as you would get in the exam — would include at least
three or four themes, and you need to organise your paragraphs around each of them.

Reaching judgements
The final sentence of each paragraph is, in many ways, the most important. You must end with a
judgement that weighs up the arguments made in your paragraph and clearly identifies which side of
the debate your argument is on:

Given the number of defeats experienced by both May and Johnson following the 2017
general election, which resulted in the resignation of May in 2019 after only 2 years, compared
to the four defeats experienced by Blair in 10 years, it is clear that prime ministers can indeed
‘do little’ and are unable to dominate parliamentary proceedings without a sizable majority.

Here the student uses a small quotation from the source to show that it is the influence for the points
made. This is vital in a source-based question. The student also makes reference to the wording of the
question, which is another useful trick.

Essay questions
Evaluate the extent to which the prime minister has become increasingly powerful.

The need for precise, detailed examples is the same for essay questions as it is for source-based
ones. The key to success when answering an essay question is in the combination of argument and
evidence to support your case. There is no need (or time) for lengthy descriptions.

Organisation
To create an effective answer, again you need to identify the themes that will form the basis of each
paragraph. What are the key ideas that you can base your argument on? For this question, which is
based on the theory that prime ministers have become more presidential, you could choose the
themes of size of parliamentary majority, use of cabinet, personality of the prime minister and media
focus, remit and scope of the role. Unlike a traditional essay where you identify all of the arguments
supporting the question on one side and all against on the other, with two paragraphs for and two
against, here you need to debate within each paragraph. Once you have chosen themes for each
paragraph, identify points and evidence that both support and disagree with the question, based on
each theme. Here’s an example:

Remit and scope of the role

For: Tony Blair’s establishment of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit and Strategy Unit to oversee
government departments and to ensure that his policy agenda was front and centre of all government
initiatives. This enabled him to take personal control over departmental affairs, e.g. child poverty.

Against: It is impossible for a PM to understand and control all elements of government apparatus.
Blair’s lack of interest and understanding of economics meant that the chancellor of the exchequer
dominated political proceedings. Likewise, the nature and scale of the coronavirus crisis has shone the
spotlight on Sunak as much as Johnson in dealing with the fallout.

Hodder & Stoughton © 2020 www.hoddereducation.co.uk/politicsreview

 www.hoddereducation.co.uk/politicsreview

Paragraph structure
The most effective paragraph structure is to use the mnemonic PEACE, which stands for Point,
Evidence, Analysis, Counterpoint, Evaluation. In this way you will ensure that you have precise
examples in every paragraph and that your debate takes place within each paragraph rather than
between them. Take a look at this example:

Use of cabinet
P — Cabinet no longer plays a central role in British government, as prime ministers often make
decisions with a small group of ministers or advisors.

E — The sofa government favoured by Blair; Johnson’s reliance on Dominic Cummings.

A — These decisions are then presented to cabinet rather than cabinet debating them within that
forum. Cabinet no longer plays as significant a role in prime ministerial decision making as the PM,
with a small supporting group, dominates proceedings.

C — Cabinet continues to play a central role in British government, as PMs still rely on the advice and
backing of ministers. In July 2018, May summoned the cabinet to Chequers for a 12-hour meeting to
get their approval for her Brexit deal.

E — Overall, although cabinet remains a key feature of the British government system, its importance
depends more on the size of the parliamentary majority and the relative strength of the prime minister.
A PM with a large majority can afford to ignore cabinet, while one with a smaller (or no) majority needs
the support of cabinet much more. Furthermore, there has been a clear shift in the use of special
advisors, who directly support the prime minister and allow them to bypass cabinet.

Clare Stansfield is head of politics at Francis Holland School

This resource is part of POLITICS REVIEW, a magazine written for A-level students by subject experts.
To subscribe to the full magazine go to: http://www.hoddereducation.co.uk/politicsreview

Hodder & Stoughton © 2020 www.hoddereducation.co.uk/politicsreview