Evaluate The View That The

Conventions Of Individual Ministerial

Responsibility and Collective Ministerial
Responsibility Are Both Still Important.
(30) Politics Explained Essay Plan
Topic ➡ 3. Prime Minister And Executive
Structure ➡ Three paragraphs with for/against and an overall judgement within each
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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
Both Individual and Collective Ministerial Responsibility are conventions that are written down in the
Ministerial Code, which is published by the Prime Minister at the start of each administration to make
clear the expectations of government ministers.

Paragraph One ➡ Collective Ministerial Responsibility

Against: Arguments That Collective Ministerial Responsibility Doesn’t Remain
Important
Collective ministerial responsibility is a convention that is included in the Ministerial Code and applies
to all ministers. It is intended to promote government unity in the face of opposition and means that

Evaluate The View That The Conventions Of Individual Ministerial Responsibility and Collective Ministerial
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Responsibility Are Both Still Important. (30) Politics Explained Essay Plan
 the government as a whole is responsible to Parliament for its decisions.

Collective ministerial responsibility holds that ministers can privately disagree in cabinet meetings,
but the discussions in these meetings are kept secret and ministers must support and defend all
of the government’s policies in public and in the media, even if they personally/privately disagree
with them.

A minister must resign from the government before publicly criticising government policy. If a
minister criticises government policy without resigning, then the Prime Minister should force them
to resign.

The fact that collective ministerial responsibility has had to be relaxed on a number of occasions in
order for the government function effectively and not become too divided is a key argument for
collective ministerial responsibility no longer being important.

Prime Ministers have frequently suspended collective ministerial responsibility during

referendums in order to prevent the issue of the referendum dividing and harming the
government.

In the 1975 European Communities Referendum, Harold Wilson recognised that he had to
allow ministers to campaign on both sides of the argument in order to prevent resignations by
anti-Europeans.

Collective ministerial responsibility was also relaxed in the coalition government, where it was
agreed that Liberal Democrat ministers wouldn't be bound by collective responsibility on four key
issues on which they strongly disagreed with the Conservatives.

Liberal Democrat ministers were allowed to abstain in votes on: (1) the construction of
nuclear power stations (2) tax allowances for married couples (3) higher education funding
and (4) the renewal of Trident.

Collective ministerial responsibility has also been shown to break down to a significant extent when
Prime Ministers are weak and the governing party is ideologically divided, with ministers (especially
‘big beasts’) able to leak their dissatisfaction, brief against the government and even vote against the
government without resigning or being sacked by the Prime Minister.

Theresa May’s government is a key example of collective ministerial responsibility no longer

being important.

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

Collective ministerial responsibility was also unimportant under Liz Truss, as her increasing
unpopularity meant she was unable to enforce it.

In October 2022, Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt and Welsh Secretary
Robert Buckland publicly opposed Liz Truss’ government’s policy that benefits shouldn’t rise
with inflation, but weren’t forced to resign.

For: Arguments That Collective Ministerial Responsibility Remains Important

On the other hand, it can be argued that collective ministerial responsibility is important the vast
majority of the time, especially when Prime Ministers are stronger. Ministers very rarely speak out

Evaluate The View That The Conventions Of Individual Ministerial Responsibility and Collective Ministerial
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Responsibility Are Both Still Important. (30) Politics Explained Essay Plan
 against the government in public even if they disagree with government policy. They are therefore
bound by collective responsibility.

Collective ministerial responsibility is effective in allowing the Prime Minister to use their powers of
patronage to control their party and government, whilst encouraging important debates within
government behind the scenes but maintaining government unity publicly.

When he was Chancellor in Boris Johnson’s government, Rishi 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 for involving too much paperwork, too many customs checks and creating a border in the
Irish Sea. He replaced it with the Windsor Framework, which fixed these problems.

This shows that collective ministerial responsibility was important when he was Chancellor, as he
may have privately disagreed with the government’s Northern Ireland Protocol, but he publicly
supported it in the media.

The importance of collective ministerial responsibility can also be seen in ministers resigning as they
couldn’t accept CMR on an issue. In April 2022, for example, Justice Minister Lord Wolfson resigned
from the government, as he said he couldn’t continue to support a government that broke the rule of
law and failed to accept responsibility for breaking the law with numerous parties in number 10 during
lockdown.

This shows that collective ministerial responsibility was still important, as Wolfson resigned rather
than accepting collective responsibility for the government’s actions.

Rishi Sunak has so far had fewer problems with collective ministerial responsibility than Liz Truss and
Theresa May did, suggesting it may again be important.

The fact that collective ministerial responsibility is sometimes relaxed as a necessity to ensure the
government can continue to function shows its flexibility, which can be seen as a strength of collective
ministerial responsibility and something that allows it to continue to be important.

Judgement
Overall, the importance of collective ministerial responsibility is highly dependent on the strength of
the Prime Minister that enforces it. When the Prime Minister is weak, unpopular and presiding over a
divided party then collective ministerial responsibility is less important, as seen under Theresa May
and Liz Truss.

When the Prime Minister is in a stronger position, such as under Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak,
however, collective ministerial responsibility is important and is abided by the vast majority of the time.

Paragraph Two ➡
Individual Ministerial Responsibility In Relation
To Personal Conduct
For: Arguments That Individual Ministerial Responsibility In Relation To
Personal Conduct Remains Important
One key aspect of the convention of individual ministerial responsibility and the most common cause
of resignations on the grounds of ministerial responsibility is in relation to the personal conduct and
professionalism of ministers. If their personal conduct falls below what is expected of them, they are
expected to offer their resignation.

Evaluate The View That The Conventions Of Individual Ministerial Responsibility and Collective Ministerial
3
Responsibility Are Both Still Important. (30) Politics Explained Essay Plan
 Resignations over personal conduct include bullying of staff, discrimination or any other
inappropriate behaviour.

There are a number of examples of ministers resigning having broken the Ministerial Code in relation
to their personal conduct, showing the importance of individual ministerial responsibility.

In June 2021, then Health Secretary Matt Hancock resigned after a video showed him having an
extramarital affair with a colleague, which also meant he had breached his own department's
COVID regulations.

On the other hand, the fact that this resignation took so long and that Hancock originally tried
to just apologise rather than resign, and Johnson’s acceptance of it, could be used to show
that individual ministerial responsibility wasn’t important. Instead, it was the media and public
backlash that proved important.

In January 2023, Conservative Party Chair Nadim Zahawi was forced to resign by Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak after the PM’s ethics adviser concluded Zahawi had breached the Ministerial Code
by failing to tell officials he was under investigation by the tax authorities when appointed
Chancellor under Boris Johnson.

In April 2023, Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Justice Dominic Raab resigned
after allegations of bullying and mistreatment of staff from over 20 civil servants.

These recent examples could be used to suggest that individual ministerial responsibility is highly
important again under Rishi Sunak, who seems to be enforcing it effectively.

Against: Arguments That Individual Ministerial Responsibility In Relation To

Personal Conduct Doesn’t Remain Important
On the other hand, it can be argued that individual ministerial responsibility is unimportant as it is very
dependent on the Prime Minister as ‘judge, jury and executioner’. When a Prime Minister has low
standards of personal conduct, themselves, IMR is therefore unimportant.

This can be seen in particular under Boris Johnson. In 2022, the ‘Partygate’ scandal broke out in
the media, revealing that there had been a number of parties in Number 10 during COVID
lockdowns that had broken the government’s own laws and guidance. Boris Johnson and other
key ministers attended, whilst Johnson specifically knowingly misled Parliament about the parties.
Despite this, Johnson didn’t resign.

Not only did Johnson not resign, he also revised the Ministerial Code in May 2022 to weaken
the rules on individual ministerial responsibility so that ministers who breach the Ministerial
Code are no longer expected to resign, but to publicly apologise and/or accept a reduction in
their pay.

Mentions of ‘honesty’, ‘transparency’, ‘integrity’ and ‘accountability’ were also removed from
the foreword to the Ministerial Code.

This key example shows that individual ministerial responsibility in relation to personal conduct
and responsibility for departmental failure was very unimportant and had broken down under
Boris Johnson’s government.

Another example of IMR in relation to personal conduct is in relation to Priti Patel. In 2020, an
independent investigation concluded that then Home Secretary Priti Patel had bullied civil servants,
yet she failed to offer her resignation and Prime Minister Boris Johnson failed to force her to resign.

Evaluate The View That The Conventions Of Individual Ministerial Responsibility and Collective Ministerial
4
Responsibility Are Both Still Important. (30) Politics Explained Essay Plan
 This was in part due to the fact that she was a ‘big beast’ with a lot of political power and was very
popular with the right wing of the Conservative Party due to her strong stance on immigration.

Judgement
Overall, individual ministerial responsibility in relation to personal conduct was clearly not important
under Boris Johnson, which shows how it is very dependent on the Prime Minister as ‘judge, jury and
executioner’, who can’t be held to account themselves.

The sackings of Zahawi and Raab suggest that it may now be more important under Rishi Sunak,
who has higher standards of personal conduct, however this is still not certain, especially as these
resignations took long suggesting that the Prime Minister was influenced by the level of public
backlash rather than simply enforcing the Ministerial Code.

Paragraph Three ➡
Individual Ministerial Responsibility In
Relation To Responsibility For Department
For: Arguments That Individual Ministerial Responsibility In Relation To
Responsibility For Department Remains Important
The other key aspect of individual ministerial responsibility is in relation to ministers being responsible
for the running, policies and performance of their departments. Ministers are expected to accept
responsibility for any failures or criticisms of their department. If there are any key failures or they are
unable to effectively run their department, they are expected to resign.

A key example of a minister resigning due to a failure within their department is Estelle Morris
who in 2002 resigned as Secretary of State for Education and Skills, after her department hadn’t
met the literacy and numeracy targets they set. In her resignation letter, she stated she felt well
equipped and suited to being Schools Minister, but not to being Secretary of State for Education
and Skills.

Individual ministerial responsibility in relation to responsibility for department also holds that ministers
are obliged to give accurate information to Parliament and to offer their resignation to the Prime
Minister if they knowingly mislead Parliament.

This can be seen in April 2018, when Amber Rudd resigned as Home Secretary after
inadvertently misleading the Home Affairs Select Committee. She had said to the committee that
she was unaware of any deportation removal targets within the department, despite the evidence
showing she had documents that said exactly that.

At the time, Rudd and the Home Office were under massive media scrutiny over the
Windrush Scandal.

Against: Arguments That Individual Ministerial Responsibility In Relation To

Responsibility For Department Doesn’t Remain Important
On the other hand, it can be argued that individual ministerial responsibility in relation to responsibility
for department is no longer important as it is dependent on the personal honour of individual
ministers, who are unlikely to offer their resignations if it will damage their career prospects and mean
they take a pay cut.

This is especially the case if an individual Prime Minister is very important to the career prospects
of a minister and they are unpopular with other parts of the party.

Evaluate The View That The Conventions Of Individual Ministerial Responsibility and Collective Ministerial
5
Responsibility Are Both Still Important. (30) Politics Explained Essay Plan
 Individual ministerial responsibility can also be seen as having declined in importance in recent years,
as there have been instances where the lines of accountability have been blurred and civil servants
have been held accountable for failings within departments, rather than government ministers.

Traditionally, civil servants were anonymous and took no credit or blame for the actions of
governments, as it was the job of ministers to ensure civil servants had the necessary skills to
carry out their roles effectively.

For example, in the summer of 2020, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson oversaw major
failings in his department, in particular the failure of the exams algorithm to determine GCSE and
A Level results. Despite this, he remained in office for over a year afterwards.

Head of Ofqual Sally Collier (a civil servant) did resign, though.

This shows that individual ministerial responsibility in relation to departmental failures was not
important despite a clear breach of the Ministerial Code, with a civil servant allowed to take
the blame by both Williamson and Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Finally, there have also been a number of ministers who have presided over major failings in their
department, yet failed to resign. This is often the case when the failing minister is a key political ally of
the Prime Minister, who will be unwilling to sack them as a result.

In May 2019, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling didn’t resign despite serious failings in his
department that included giving a multi-million pound ferry contract to a company that had never
owned a ferry. This contract ultimately had to be cancelled, at a major cost to the taxpayer.

As a consequence of his failures, Grayling was ridiculed in the media and nicknamed ‘Failing
Grayling’.

Judgement
Overall, the more persuasive argument is that individual ministerial responsibility in relation to
responsibility for department is limited in importance. It is very dependent on the Prime Minister to
carry it out, who is unlikely to make allies resign unless there is significant public backlash, especially
as civil servants have been blamed instead in recent years.

Overall Argument
In conclusion, the conventions of individual and collective ministerial responsibility are both
dependent on the Prime Minister to enforce them, who often decides based on the level of media
backlash they would receive if they failed to sack a minister who had broken the Ministerial Code.
Both conventions are therefore weak and relatively unimportant.

Collective ministerial responsibility is more important than individual ministerial responsibility, as the
former applies the majority of the time.

Though it is yet too soon to judge, it also seems like individual ministerial responsibility is becoming
more important under Rishi Sunak, especially in comparison to Boris Johnson, who had very low
standards.

Other Possible Essay Questions To Practice

Adapting This Plan To Answer

Evaluate The View That The Conventions Of Individual Ministerial Responsibility and Collective Ministerial
6
Responsibility Are Both Still Important. (30) Politics Explained Essay Plan
 Evaluate the view that individual and collective ministerial responsibility are too weak to ensure
effective accountability. (30)

Evaluate the view that individual ministerial responsibility still applies. (30)

Evaluate the view that conventions of individual and collective ministerial responsibility have become
less important in recent years. (30)

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Evaluate The View That The Conventions Of Individual Ministerial Responsibility and Collective Ministerial
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Responsibility Are Both Still Important. (30) Politics Explained Essay Plan