Evaluate The View That Prime Ministers

Are Able To Dominate The Cabinet. (30)

Politics Explained Essay Plan
Topic ➡ 3. Prime Minister And Executive
Structure ➡ Three paragraphs with for/against and an overall judgement within each
This Essay Plan Is Part Of A Package Of Essay Plans Covering The UK Government Part Of The
Politics A Level Course For AQA, Edexcel and OCR Exam Boards. It Can Be Purchased Here ➡
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Keep In Mind ➡ These are long plans as they’re intended to be revised from to cover the key
content you need to know for the exam. In the exam, you would need to adapt them for the
specific question you are asked and you certainly wouldn’t need to include everything, especially
not all of the examples. The judgements are also subjective and you don’t have to agree with
them!

Introduction
Key Definitions

Paragraph One ➡
The Prime Ministers Power Of Patronage vs
Including Big Beasts
For: Arguments That Prime Ministers Are Able To Dominate Their Cabinets
An effective Prime Minister can use their powers of patronage to shape the top team in a way that
enhances their power and enables them to promote their policy priorities and agenda, removing poor
performers, bringing in fresh talent and promoting ideological allies.

This can allow Prime Ministers to maintain their authority and marginalise the power of
factions/individuals in their party who may want to challenge them for the leadership/destabilise
the government.

New Prime Ministers often remove former Cabinet Ministers and replace them with their own allies
they know they can rely on to share and drive through their vision.

Evaluate The View That Prime Ministers Are Able To Dominate The Cabinet. (30) Politics Explained Essay Plan 1
 When Liz Truss became Prime Minister, she removed important members of Johnson’s cabinet
including Priti Patel, Nadine Dorries and Dominic Raab.

Rishi Sunak did this too, bringing back Dominic Raab as Justice Secretary, Michael Gove as
Levelling Up Secretary and Suella Braverman as Home Secretary, despite her having been
sacked by Truss for breaking the Ministerial Code.

Prime Ministers are able to sack ministers if they seek to undermine their authority by breaking
collective ministerial responsibility and use the threat of this to keep ministers in line.

This can be seen with Rishi Sunak and the Northern Ireland Protocol. When he was Chancellor in
Boris Johnson’s government, Sunak publicly supported and voted for the Northern Ireland
Protocol that was a key part of Johnson’s Brexit deal.

In February 2023 when Prime Minister himself, however, Sunak criticised the Northern Ireland
Protocol and replaced it. This shows how Prime Minister Boris Johnson was able to use collective
ministerial responsibility to dominate the cabinet, as Sunak may have privately disagreed with the
government’s Northern Ireland Protocol, but he publicly supported it in the media, as otherwise he
may have been sacked.

Against: Arguments That Prime Ministers Aren’t Able To Dominate Their

Cabinets
On the other hand, the Prime Minister’s power of patronage shouldn’t be overstated. In order to
maintain their authority over large and often divided parties, they have to represent different factions
of the party. This limits the extent to which they can appoint allies who will be easy to manage.

Theresa May, for example, appointed a cabinet with a balance between Brexiteers (including
Boris Johnson and David Davis) and Remainers (including Phillip Hammond and Jeremy Hunt).

Prime Ministers also sometimes have to appoint and give significant power to other key figures,
known as ‘big beasts’, within their party.

For example, Despite being a very popular and powerful Prime Minister, Tony Blair’s power was
significantly limited by his Chancellor Gordon Brown. Blair had to concede a significant amount of
control over a number of policy areas.

Brown effectively denied Blair his wish to join the European Single Currency, by devising 5
economic tests that would first have to be passed and insisting that the treasury would
determine when they had been met.

Further, when a Prime Minister is weak and unpopular, collective ministerial responsibility often
breaks down and they are unable to control their cabinet, particularly ‘big beasts’ within it.

When Foreign Secretary in Theresa May’s government, for example, Boris Johnson consistently
leaked his dissatisfaction with government policy and briefed against the Prime Minister, including
writing critical weekly articles in the Daily Telegraph.

Due to his popularity within the Conservative Party, particularly with Brexiteers, and May’s
weakness as a Prime Minister, she wasn’t able to sack him, though. This shows how she was
unable to dominate the cabinet.

Judgement
The Prime Minister’s power of patronage does give them significant power to control their cabinet and
shape it in a way that enhances their power. This power is limited by the need to give significant

Evaluate The View That Prime Ministers Are Able To Dominate The Cabinet. (30) Politics Explained Essay Plan 2
 power to ‘big beasts’, represent different factions and by the fact that collective ministerial
responsibility often breaks down under weak Prime Ministers, though.

Overall, therefore, all Prime Ministers aren’t able to dominate their cabinets, particularly Prime
Ministers who are weak and unpopular.

Paragraph Two ➡
The Prime Minister Can Bypass The Cabinet vs
The Cabinet Remain Important In Decision Making
For: Arguments That Prime Ministers Are Able To Dominate Their Cabinets
One key argument that the Prime Minister is able to dominate their cabinet is that they can bypass the
cabinet when determining government policy through informal committees, SPADs and the growth of
Downing Street.

Rather than using the cabinet to determine policy, they often decide it beforehand using these
methods and then effectively announce policy in Cabinet meetings.

Prime Ministers have more control in smaller forums and it is easier to reach a compromise with one
or two key ministers than the whole cabinet. As a consequence, they often use smaller cabinet
committees (such as the National Security Council/COVID-19 Strategy Committee), bi-lateral meeting
with ministers and informal groups to make decisions, shunning the cabinet.

Under Tony Blair, he and Chancellor Gordon Brown negotiated with each other to determine
economic policy, whilst Blair often used bi-lateral meetings with important ministers to determine
policy on a particular area, as he felt he could use them to talk ministers around to his view.

Blair’s style of governing was dubbed ‘sofa government’ as a result, as he largely shunned
the cabinet.

Both Theresa May and Boris Johnson used cabinet committees to make decisions on important
issues.

Theresa May used the committee on exiting the European Union to make important decisions
on Brexit, whilst Boris Johnson used the COVID-19 Strategy committee to make key
decisions on COVID restrictions, with Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove having particular power within it.

In recent years, Special Advisors (SPADs) have also occupied an important role in Downing Street
and in decision making. These are unelected and are hired directly by the Prime Minister, working
closely with them to develop government strategy.

John Major had just 8 special advisors, but by 2005 Tony Blair had thirty.

Despite being unelected, special advisor Dominic Cummings held a very significant amount of
power in Boris Johnson’s government, arguably far more than any cabinet minister or other
member of government.

Boris Johnson even took a significant hit to his government’s popularity to defend Cummings
after he broke COVID rules by driving from London to Barnard Castle.

Whilst in the past Prime Ministers had little central support and relied a great deal on the Cabinet as
ministers had the administrative support of large departments, modern Prime Ministers are well
supported as a result of the growth of Downing Street.

Evaluate The View That Prime Ministers Are Able To Dominate The Cabinet. (30) Politics Explained Essay Plan 3
 Under Blair, the Prime Minister played a key role in developing long-term policies using the
Strategy Unit and using the Delivery Unit to monitor the delivery of policy across government, with
Blair playing a key role in driving through Health and Education policy in particular.

Against: Arguments That Prime Ministers Aren’t Able To Dominate Their

Cabinets
On the other hand, there is only an extent to which Prime Ministers can bypass their cabinet and
dominate government policy. Even strong Prime Ministers rely on their cabinet to deliver policy.

The UK Government operates under a core-executive model where power is very fragmented and the
Prime Minister can’t control all of government policy. Instead, they seek to act as managers, using
their appointments power and their ability to offer some coordination in an effort to gain as much
influence as possible.

This leads to the Prime Minister still relying on cabinet ministers to run their departments, whilst
relying on cabinet decision making to settle key disputes and pass policies, especially when there
is a cabinet rivalry or the government has a small majority/limited popularity.

When Theresa May was seeking to introduce a Brexit deal, the hardline Brexiteers in her
cabinet (as well as the DUP and the fact she lacked a majority), including Boris Johnson, had
a lot of influence due to their support among the party and forced Theresa May to a harder
Brexit deal.

This has especially been the case since 2010, when there have been a series of governments
with small majorities/coalitions.

When developing policy, David Cameron had to consult key members of his cabinet,
particularly Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, to ensure they would have wide support.

The cabinet is also highly important for a government to project unity to the public and make
important decisions during a crisis, as joined up decision making between departments is essential.

For example during COVID, Johnson not only wanted to present a united front, but also relied a
lot on government ministers, especially Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

Judgement
Overall, popular Prime Ministers with big majorities can certainly bypass the cabinet to a large extent
and determine some key areas of policy themselves. It would be too far to say that they can dominate
their cabinet, however. They ultimately still rely on them to run departments and deliver policy,
particularly in emergencies. Further, when the Prime Minister is weak, they struggle a lot more in
bypassing their cabinet.

Paragraph Three ➡
The Prime Minister Can Develop Personal
Popularity vs The Prime Minister Needs The Support Of The
Cabinet
For: Arguments That Prime Ministers Are Able To Dominate Their Cabinets
A final way in which it can be argued that Prime Ministers are able to dominate their Cabinets is by
developing personal popularity with the public, which they can use to drive through policy and
dominate government.

Evaluate The View That Prime Ministers Are Able To Dominate The Cabinet. (30) Politics Explained Essay Plan 4
 This is linked to Michael Foley’s concept of ‘Spatial Leadership’ that suggests that Prime
Ministers are becoming more like US presidents by distancing themselves from the party and
government for which they are responsible. They present themselves as outsiders and develop
personal popularity with the public using the media in particular.

The Prime Minister can use the media and their personal popularity to reach out to the public and
create a level of personal support that can allow them to determine and drive through policy. This has
been aided by the growth of television and social media, as well as TV debates between leaders
becoming key fixtures of campaigns and media coverage of politics often focusing on leaders.

Tony Blair was very successful in courting support from the right-wing press and developing his
personal image. Due to his very high popularity at the start of his premiership, he was able to
determine a lot of government policy himself, for example in health and education, where there
was a lot of centralised control.

Against: Arguments That Prime Ministers Aren’t Able To Dominate Their

Cabinets
On the other hand Prime Ministers still ultimately rely on the party in order to pass the government’s
legislative agenda and on the Cabinet to deliver government policy. If the Prime Ministers distances
themselves too much from either/seeks to sideline the cabinet in particular, the cabinet can remove
them.

This happens in particular when the Prime Minister is no longer popular with the public and therefore
would no longer help the party win the next election.

The last 3 Prime Ministers - May, Johnson and Truss - were ultimately removed by their cabinets
and the wider Conservative Party after becoming unpopular.

It can be argued that the office of the Prime Minister is elastic; the more a Prime Minister attempts to
expand the office the more resistance they face.

For example, Margaret Thatcher was ultimately removed by her cabinet despite her big majority.
This was in part due to her pursuing the Poll Tax in 1989/90 despite opposition from all sides,
including within her own party, and without consulting local authorities fully.

Her sidelining of the cabinet and conviction politics ultimately came back to bite her and bring her
down.

Judgement
Overall, popular Prime Ministers are able to use their personal popularity to drive through key policies.
This is entirely dependent on their popularity, however. When they become less popular, the Cabinet
sees them as less of an electoral asset to the party and will seek to remove them, particularly if they
seek to continue to sideline the cabinet, as Thatcher did.

Most Prime Ministers are therefore not able to dominate their cabinet in this regard. If they are, it is
only for a limited time.

Overall Argument
In conclusion, Prime Ministers are not able to dominate their Cabinets. Popular Prime Ministers with
big majorities are able to play a more significant role in determining government policy and are better
able to control their Cabinets than weak Prime Ministers, who have to grant significant power to ‘big
beasts’ and are often removed by their Cabinet.

Evaluate The View That Prime Ministers Are Able To Dominate The Cabinet. (30) Politics Explained Essay Plan 5
 Even for these popular Prime Ministers, however, it would be too far to say they are able to ‘dominate’
their Cabinets as they ultimately rely on them to deliver policy, need to give power to ‘big beasts’ in
the party and risk being removed if they sideline key ministers.

Other Possible Essay Questions To Practice

Adapting This Plan To Answer
Evaluate the view that the cabinet can act as an effective check on prime ministerial power. (30)

Evaluate the extent to which the cabinet no longer plays a meaningful role in the UK political system.
(30)

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Evaluate The View That Prime Ministers Are Able To Dominate The Cabinet. (30) Politics Explained Essay Plan 6