The Cabinet Has Always Been Led by the Prime Minister, Although His Role Is Traditionally

Institutions of the UK, Dr. Robert Spence, (SS 2006) Presentation by Katrin Menzel, June 27, 2006 UK Politics – Prime Minister and Cabinet

I. How to get information on British politics from the Internet?

As it is important to keep up to date with politics, it might be interesting for you to look at the following websites:

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/ especially on http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/default.stm

BBC News is a major arm of the BBC and the largest news broadcaster in the world. You’ll find a lot of relevant video and audio files.

 http://www.number10.gov.uk

The official website of the British Prime Minister contains the latest news from the UK government, detailed information on Tony Blair and all Cabinet members. Its broadcast section enables you to watch Prime Minister's Questions or short films about government policies.

You will also find all important British newspapers online. Each of them includes a section dedicated to political news and information, e.g.

 http://politics.guardian.co.uk/

 http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/

 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,17129,00.html

II. The Prime Minister

Tony Charles Lynton Blair born: 6 May 1953 in Edinburgh PM: 1997 – present, the Labour Party won a third term for Mr Blair in May 2005

head of Her Majesty's Governmen t and the Cabinet

10 Downing Street , London: the official residence of the First Lord of the Treasury, and thus the residence of the British Prime Minister, as in modern times, the two roles have been filled by the same person

1 Institutions of the UK, Dr. Robert Spence, (SS 2006) Presentation by Katrin Menzel, June 27, 2006 Chequers : the official country residence of British Prime Ministers since 1921 (south east of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England)

- PM is chosen and appointed by the monarch (convention that the PM should be the leader of the party with a majority in the House of Commons) - PM then selects about twenty ministers which make up the government (with the title " Sec- retary of State ") - PM has weekly confidential meetings with the monarch (essential rights of the Queen are: the right to be consulted, the right to advise and the right to warn)

It also should be noted that British Prime Ministers can be "presidential" since the powers, responsibilities and duties of the British Prime Minister are largely convention (in the Westminster tradition which originated in England, the uncodified constitution includes written sources but also unwritten constitutional conventions, observation of precedents, royal prerogatives and custom).

- every Wednesday when the House of Commons is sitting, the Prime Minister spends half an hour answering questions from Members of Parliament (Prime Minister's Question Time) , the Leader of the Opposition is allowed six supplementary questions and the leader of the third largest party has two (the word interpellation is used to refer to the formal right of a parliament to submit questions to the government)

III. The British Cabinet

- in formal constitutional terms, the Cabinet is a committee of the Privy Council (Kronrat); all Cabinet members are Privy Counsellors and therefore use the style " The Right Honourable " - Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council: a body of advisors to the British Sovereign; formerly, the Council was a powerful institution, but is now largely ceremonial - Cabinet Members are almost entirely members of the House of Commons (apart from the Lord Chancellor and the Leader of the House of Lords) - two key constitutional conventions regarding the accountability (Rechenschaftspflicht) of the cabinet to Parliament exist: collective cabinet responsibility and individual ministerial responsibility - if a vote of no confidence (Misstrauensvotum) in the Government passes, then confidence must be restored either by a dissolution of Parliament and the election of a new one, or by the resignation of the Government collectively.

Members of the cabinet are members of the Parliament, and therefore accountable to it. Cabinet collective responsibility means that members of the cabinet make decisions collectively, and are therefore responsible for the consequences of these decisions collectively. Therefore, when a vote of no confidence is passed in Parliament, all ministers and government officials drawn from Parliament automatically resign in their role as the executive, the entire executive is dismissed. So logically, cabinet ministers that disagree with major decisions are expected to resign, as to take a recent example, Robin Cook did over the decision to attack Iraq in 2003.

2 Institutions of the UK, Dr. Robert Spence, (SS 2006) Presentation by Katrin Menzel, June 27, 2006  in the United Kingdom's parliamentary system, the executive is not separate from the legislature since Cabinet members are drawn from Parliament, moreover the executive tends to dominate the legislature

Cabinet Room, 10 Downing Street Every Government's Cabinet has met in this room since 1856, when it was called the Council Chamber. At present a Cabinet meeting is held weekly on Thursday mornings.

VI. Shadow Cabinet

- the official opposition party is headed by a similar group called the Shadow Cabinet, in recent years the third largest party has also referred to its key figures as a Shadow Cabinet

David Cameron The Rt Hon. Sir Menzies Campbell Leader of the Conservative Party, and Leader of the Liberal Leader of the Democrats Opposition

V. List of references: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/guides/456900/456937/html/nn1page1.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/uk_politics/03/shadow_cabinet/html/default.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/uk_politics/2006/liberal_democrat_leadership_contest/default.stm http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page2.asp http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page19.asp http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page41.asp http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page1371.asp http://en.wikipedia.org

3 Institutions of the UK, Dr. Robert Spence, (SS 2006) Presentation by Katrin Menzel, June 27, 2006 Full list of Cabinet members as at 5 May 2006

Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service

The Rt Hon Tony Blair MP

Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State

The Rt Hon John Prescott MP

Chancellor of the Exchequer

The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP

Leader of the House of Commons, Lords Reform and Party Funding

The Rt Hon Jack Straw MP

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

The Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP

Secretary of State for Trade and Industry

The Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP

Secretary of State for the Home Department

The Rt Hon Dr John Reid MP

Secretary of State for Health

The Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt MP

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

The Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP

Cabinet Office Minister and for Social Exclusion and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

The Rt Hon Hilary Armstrong MP

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and Secretary of State for Wales

The Rt Hon Peter Hain MP

Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council

The Rt Hon Baroness Amos

Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor

The Rt Hon Lord Falconer of Thoroton QC

4 Institutions of the UK, Dr. Robert Spence, (SS 2006) Presentation by Katrin Menzel, June 27, 2006 Secretary of State for International Development

The Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP

Secretary of State for Education and Skills

The Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP

Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government

The Rt Hon Ruth Kelly MP

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

The Rt Hon John Hutton MP

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The Rt Hon David Miliband MP

Secretary of State for Defence

The Rt Hon Des Browne MP

Secretary of State for Transport and Secretary of State for Scotland

The Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP

Minister without Portfolio

The Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP

Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury and Chief Whip

The Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP

Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Stephen Timms MP

Also attending Cabinet

Minister for Europe in the FCO

The Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP

Minister for Trade in the FCO and the DTI

The Rt Hon Ian McCartney MP

Lords Chief Whip and Captain of the Gentlemen at Arms

The Rt Hon Lord Grocott

Attorney General The Rt Hon Lord Goldsmith QC

5 Institutions of the UK, Dr. Robert Spence, (SS 2006) Presentation by Katrin Menzel, June 27, 2006 Prime Ministers, period of office and political party

 Sir Robert Walpole 1721-42 Whig  Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington 1742-3 Whig  Henry Pelham 1743-54 Whig  Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle 1754-6 and 1757-62 Whig  William Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire 1756-7 Whig  John Stuart, Earl of Bute 1762-3 Tory  George Grenville 1763-5 Whig  Charles Wentworth, Marquess of Rockingham 1765-6 1782 Whig  The Earl of Chatham, William Pitt 'The Elder' 1766-8 Whig  Augustus Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton 1768-70 Whig  Lord North 1770-82 Tory  William Petty, Earl of Shelburne 1782-3 Whig  William Bentinck, Duke of Portland 1783 and 1807-9 Whig

 William Pitt 'The Younger' 1783-1801 and 1804-6 Tory  Henry Addington 1801-4 Tory  William Wyndam Grenville, Lord Grenville 1806-7 Whig  Spencer Perceval 1809-12 Tory  Robert Banks Jenkinson, Earl of Liverpool 1812-27 Tory  George Canning 1827 Tory  Frederick Robinson, Viscount Goderich 1827-8 Tory  Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington 1828-30 Tory  Earl Grey 1830-34 Whig  William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne 1834 and 1835-41 Whig  Sir Robert Peel 1834-5 and 1841-6 Tory  Earl Russell 1846-51 1865-6 Liberal  The Earl of Derby 1852, 1858-9 and 1866-8, Conservative  Earl of Aberdeen 1852-5 Tory  Viscount Palmerston 1855-8 and 1859-65 Liberal  Benjamin Disraeli 1868 and 1874-80 Conservative  William Ewart Gladstone 1868-74, 1880-85, 1886 and 1892-94 Liberal  Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury 1885-6, 1886-92 and 1895-1902 Conservative  The Earl of Rosebery 1894-5 Liberal

 Arthur James Balfour 1902-5 Conservative  Henry Campbell-Bannerman 1905-8 Liberal  Herbert Henry Asquith 1908-16 Liberal  David Lloyd George 1916-22 Liberal  Andrew Bonar Law 1922-3 Conservative  Stanley Baldwin 1923, 1924-9, 1935-7 Conservative  James Ramsay MacDonald 1924 and 1929-35 Labour  Arthur Neville Chamberlain 1937-40 Conservative  Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill 1940-5 and 1951-5 Conservative  Clement Richard Attlee 1945-51 Labour  Anthony Eden 1955-7 Conservative  Harold Macmillan 1957-63 Conservative  Sir Alec Douglas-Home 1963-4 Conservative  Harold Wilson 1964-70 and 1974-6 Labour  Edward Heath 1970-4 Conservative  James Callaghan 1976-9 Labour  Margaret Thatcher 1979-90 Conservative  John Major 1990-97 Conservative