Easter revision 1: The core executive

DO NOWWorking with a partner, bullet-point the limitations on prime ministerial power introduced as a result of coalition government. Try to capture as many limitations as possible.

Key concepts and required readingDates Topic Key concepts Essential reading

Apr 13-19

The core executive

• The prime minister: main roles, powers and resources.

• Prime ministerial and presidential systems: a brief comparison.

• The effects of coalition government.

• The Cabinet system: composition, roles and functions of Cabinet, Cabinet Committees and Cabinet Ministers. The Cabinet Office.

• Ministers and civil servants: main characteristics, roles, resources and relationships.

• Special advisers.• Government departments.

• What makes prime ministers powerful?' Politics Review November 2012

• 'Prime ministerial power: the impact of coalition government' Politics Review February 2015

• McNaughton & Magee, UK Government & Politics Annual Update 2015, Ch.7 'The cabinet reshuffle: a ruthless display of prime ministerial power'.

• Heywood, Essentials of UK Politics (2011) Ch.8 'The prime minister and cabinet‘

• Buckley, The Prime Minister and Cabinet (2006) Ch.5, 8, 9

• Heffernan, Cowley & Hay, Developments in British Politics (2011) Ch.3 'Changing patterns of executive governance‘

• Watts, British Government & Politics (2012) Ch.4. 'The executive‘

Coalition government MPs on the [Conservative] right never understood the accidental good luck of taking in the Liberal Democrats as sleeping partners. Time and again they saved the Tories from dangerously extreme policies that might have sunk a single-party government. Austerity introduced by the Tories alone would have been seen as merely vindictive but when signed off by the Liberal Democrats it became unavoidable. Governing alone, Cameron would have had no excuse for resisting his hot-headed Euromaniacs and been forced into an early in/out referendum. Tory ministers learnt that they could win political kudos with their own party by floating extreme ideas secure in the knowledge that the liberal democrats would torpedo them.

Adapted from Toynbee and Walker Cameron's Coup (2015)• Define the term single-party government as used in the extract. (5) • Using your own knowledge as well as the extract, consider the extent to which the

Liberal Democrats have been ‘sleeping partners’ in the coalition. (10)

Topic 3 The Core Executive

Coalition: Has it worked?This coalition has shown that two parties working together can deliver strong government. Though parliamentary revolts have become frequent, the coalition has lost few bills. The two parties have been united on economic policy. At the very top, the commitment to making the coalition work has been unwavering and the Fixed-term Parliaments Act has proved a safeguard against opportunist splits. There have been problems, for sure. Initial goodwill – the coalition started out very popular – gave way to anger aimed at the Lib Dems over tuition fees and then at the Tories over NHS reforms that were never disclosed in advance and the notorious 2012 budget. Yet midterm blues are nothing new, affecting one-party governments too. True, relations between the partners nearly foundered over the AV referendum, Lords reform and constituency boundaries. Yet splits, too, are not unique to coalitions.

Adapted from editorial, The Guardian (2015)

• Define the term strong government as used in the extract. (5)• Using your own knowledge as well as the extract, explain the effects of the Fixed-

term Parliaments Act on the coalition. (10)

Topic 3 The Core Executive

DO NOWWorking in pairs, complete the Democracy ‘refresher’ quiz answering all 20 questions to the best of your ability.

Easter revision 2: The core executive

Answers1. Ancient Greece2. Direct democracy3. Representative democracy4. Participatory democracy5. Liberal democracy6. Constitutional change7. Scottish 16- and 17-year-olds8. Devolution9. 1975 – membership of the EEC, and 2011 – electoral system change to AV. (In

1997, Welsh voters chose to have a Welsh Assembly and Scottish voters chose to have a Scottish Parliament. In 1998, London voters chose to have an elected mayor and a London Assembly, and Northern Ireland chose to accept the Good Friday Agreement. In 2004, voters in the North East of England rejected a proposed regional assembly.)

10. Mandate

Answers11. 1950 UK general election12. 2010 UK general election13. 2011 AV referendum14. 2012 English local elections15. 2012 police commissioner elections16. 2014 European Parliament election17. 100,000 signatures are required on an e-petition to ensure that it is

considered for debate in the House of Commons.18. 4.1% of the electorate (1.69 million people) were members of a political party

in 1980. By 2010 the figure was 0.8% (397,000).19. One way to ensure high turnout would be to introduce compulsory voting,

though this solution is disliked by liberals.20. Another way to improve turnout might be continued reform of parliamentary

institutions, for example by giving more power to local governments.

Key concepts and required readingDates Topic Key concepts Essential reading

Apr 13-19

The core executive

• The prime minister: main roles, powers and resources.

• Prime ministerial and presidential systems: a brief comparison.

• The effects of coalition government.

• The Cabinet system: composition, roles and functions of Cabinet, Cabinet Committees and Cabinet Ministers. The Cabinet Office.

• Ministers and civil servants: main characteristics, roles, resources and relationships.

• Special advisers.• Government departments.

• What makes prime ministers powerful?' Politics Review November 2012

• 'Prime ministerial power: the impact of coalition government' Politics Review February 2015

• McNaughton & Magee, UK Government & Politics Annual Update 2015, Ch.7 'The cabinet reshuffle: a ruthless display of prime ministerial power'.

• Heywood, Essentials of UK Politics (2011) Ch.8 'The prime minister and cabinet‘

• Buckley, The Prime Minister and Cabinet (2006) Ch.5, 8, 9

• Heffernan, Cowley & Hay, Developments in British Politics (2011) Ch.3 'Changing patterns of executive governance‘

• Watts, British Government & Politics (2012) Ch.4. 'The executive‘

Practice questions – 25 marks

1) Outline the traditional debate about prime ministerial power.

2) ‘Fixed-term parliaments have had a significant effect on the prime minister’s power.’ Discuss.

3) ‘Coalition government has been good for the office of prime minister.’ Discuss.

4) Explain the link between fixed-term parliaments and coalition government.

5) ‘The House of Commons is now a committee-based legislature.’ Discuss.

Current spending on public services and administration

Sources: HM Treasury Budget 2014, HM Treasury Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses, July 2013

Total public sector spending and receipts (Excludes Royal Mail and APF transfers.)

12

Total public services output, inputs and productivity estimates 1997-2010

Source: ONS Public Service Productivity statistics

13

5 Public Service Reform Principles

• “We need a new paradigm for government services. One that delivers better services focused on user need, at much lower cost, in a way that supports economic growth.”

• Minister for the Cabinet Office, February 2014

Open

Tight

LooseInnovation

Digital by Default• Productivity – delivering more with less

• Cost accounting – understanding and challenging the cost base

• Collaboration and co-operation – whole public sector transformation

• Common platforms – everyone welcome...!

• Digital by design• Innovation and experimentation

The civil service at-a-glance1. There are around 450,000 civil servants in government. 2. Civil servants are bound by three core principles: permanence, impartiality and anonymity. All civil

servants must sign the Official Secrets Act.3. The current Cabinet secretary and overall head of the civil service is Sir Jeremy Heywood. The first ever

chief executive of the civil service is John Manzoni.4. Each government department is headed by a Permanent Secretary (a ‘mandarin’) who is directly

responsible to a minister.5. Since the 1990s, the ‘Howard principle’ has established that ministers are responsible for policy

decisions, while civil servants are responsible for implementing and operating those policies.6. However, the rise of semi-autonomous agencies, such as HM Prison Service, has meant that some civil

servants are publicly responsible for policy. 7. Special political advisers (Spads) are appointed by ministers and temporarily employed by the civil

service; they leave office along with the government. David Cameron and Ed Miliband are both former Spads.

8. The coalition government has reduced the size of the civil service by about a fifth, cutting about 90,000 civil servant jobs

9. The coalition’s Cabinet Office minister, Francis Maude, introduced public sector mutuals, organisations that are run directly by their employees. These are popular with right-wingers as they reduce the size of the bureaucracy and reduce central state control.

10. A process of ‘marketisation’ has also been introduced, whereby many services are provided by the private sector, which bids for civil service contracts.

Civil service reformCivil service reform has traditionally been the kind of backroom issue that seems vitally important to ministers and mandarins, but has no resonance on the doorstep. As a result, the great departments of state have gone without serious reform for at least a quarter of a century. There are three problems that must be addressed. The first is that the civil service lacks serious accountability. The current structures of Whitehall means permanent secretaries are accountable to their secretaries of state, who are in turn accountable to parliament. But in practice the demands of political neutrality mean that ministers cannot sack or discipline officials. The second problem is that most big policy issues cross departmental lines – helping a child out of poverty requires local authorities to work with the NHS, police and schools. But at the moment the fragmentation of Whitehall policy making makes coordination far too difficult, leading to poor outcomes and rampant inefficiency. The third problem relates to special political advisers. The sheer complexity of modern government means that ministers need more advisers to help them master their briefs. Good political advisers are not the vampiric spin doctors of tabloid fable, but policy specialists who provide a link between ministers and their officials. There should be more of them.

Adapted from editorial The New Statesman (2013)

• Define the term special political adviser as used in the extract. (5) • Using your own knowledge as well as the extract, explain why ministers find it

difficult to sack or discipline senior civil servants. (10)

Topic 3 The Core Executive

The role of parliamentThe adversarial Westminster model of robust debate has been lost. There is no debate [in parliament] on matters of substance. One reason for this is that so many MPs depend so directly on the party leaders. At the last count, there were roughly 150 ministers, parliamentary undersecretaries and parliamentary private secretaries. If you add a similar number for those shadowing them on the opposite benches, that brings you close to half the lower house. Everything is coordinated by an army of special political advisers – the so-called “spadocracy” – and heaven help the aspiring politician who departs from their script. As the former Conservative attorney general Dominic Grieve observed, debates in parliament are “angry exchanges but with very little content”.

Adapted from T. Garton Ash The Guardian (2015)

• Define the term Westminster model as used in the extract. (5)• Using your own knowledge as well as the extract, consider the extent to which the

payroll vote compromises parliament’s effectiveness. (10)

Topic 2 Parliament

Parliamentary traditionAny attempt to drag parliament into the 20th century, let alone the 21st, is treated by a certain cadre of MPs as a heresy akin to taking a leak on the Bayeux Tapestry. Woven into the very fabric of Westminster are assumptions about who the building – and, by extension, our democracy – is intended to serve. Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg takes to Parliament’s regulations like an impeccably suited duck to water, while other backbenchers who had been, say, bricklayers or heads of charities cheerfully admitted that they found the whole thing completely barmy. All the by-laws, the prayer cards to mark your seat, the juvenile heckling in the chamber . . . that comforts a certain type of person, because it reminds them of public school, the Oxford Union, the Travellers Club. Some Commons traditions are definitely worth preserving: every time on Queen’s Speech day that Black Rod is turned away from the House, it reminds us that we have a democracy only because our ancestors fought to disobey the monarch.

Adapted from editorial The New Statesman (2014)

• Define the term Commons traditions as used in the extract. (5)• Using your own knowledge as well as the extract, consider how far the legitimacy

of parliament is affected by its lack of descriptive representation. (10)

Topic 2 Parliament

Parliament under the coalitionEvery form of government, single or multi-party, comes at a price of some sort. Each has its own form of dividend too. Thanks to coalition, there has been a revival of cabinet government after the years of Labour centralisation. And parliament has become more independent-minded, with stronger select committees and a Speaker more ready to defy ministers. An Electoral Reform Society poll last week found that voters in marginal seats still believe that “parliaments work best when no party is too dominant so that cross-party agreement is needed to pass laws”. On the other hand, the power of each party to veto anything not in the coalition agreement has meant the coalition has achieved less, on Europe or civil liberties, than a benign single-party government might have done.

Adapted from editorial The Guardian (2015)

• Define the term cross-party agreement as used in the extract. (5)• Using your own knowledge as well as the extract, consider the extent to which

‘parliament has become more independent-minded’ under the coalition. (10)

Topic 2 Parliament