Prime minsters ‘killing Cabinet’
By politics.co.uk staff
Cabinet government has been undermined in recent years, with prime ministers drawing more and more power to themselves, a new book argues.
‘Premiership: the development, nature and power of the office of the British prime minister’ by Dr Andrew Blick and Professor George Jones of the London School of Economics makes the claim, but says Britain does not effectively have a president.
Despite the development of a semi-official ‘department of the prime minister’, Downing Street is still unable to bring about whatever it wants.
Dr Blick said: “Over recent decades Cabinet meetings have become less frequent events. In the 1950s there was an average of 87.1 full Cabinet meetings per year; and [it] is now generally in the high 30s to low 40s.
“A further blow to Cabinet has been the commandeering of the body which should support it, the Cabinet Office, by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to provide direct assistance to the prime minister. By 2005-6 782 Cabinet Office personnel – more than a third of its total staff – were charged with supporting the prime minister.”
Dr Blick does say that Cabinet ministers are able to provide collective leadership as long as they are assertive and resist pressure from No 10.
Professor Jones said: “The UK constitution could be on the brink of a new era. If this new, quasi-departmental model for the office of prime minister holds for a significant period of time. the constitutional implications for the UK – including growing difficulties for parliament in holding this entity to account – will be great.
“Whoever occupies No 10 after the general election needs to think hard about these issues.”
He added: “However much No 10 might throw its weight around in Whitehall, there is no guarantee it will get its way, or that if it does the policies that are adopted will prove to be effective.”
‘Premiership: the development, nature and power of the office of the British prime minister’ is published by Imprint Academic today.
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