The Role of Cabinet Ministers

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The Role of Cabinet Ministers
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The Ministerial Hierarchy
Government Departments are headed by A Secretary
of State (sits in Cabinet) Ministers of State
(not in Cabinet) Parliamentary Under
Secretaries (first rung on the ladder of
government)
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Government DepartmentsThe elite departments

• Home Office law and order, police, prisons, the
  judiciary, sentencing, anti-terrorism,
  immigration.
• The Treasury the budget, inflation, investment,
  taxation.
• The Foreign and Commonwealth Office foreign
  policy, diplomacy, embassies, relations with the
  EU, Commonwealth, UN, NATO.
• The Ministry of Defence armed forces, NATO,
  weapons systems, Britains nuclear capability

Which is the most important Department of State ?
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Departmental overlap

• Some departments roles overlap
• Eg, the work of the MOD and Foreign Office.
• Coordination will take place in so called
  bi-lateral or tri-lateral meetings with the PM
  and those ministers involved.

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2012 Olympics
PM
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War in Iraq
PM
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Re-shuffles

• PMs re-shuffle ministers regularly.
• It takes a minister several months to master
  their brief (ie learn their new job)
• Some departments have a strong ethos/culture
  which will affect how a minister acts. Some
  ministers go native.
• Some new ministers want to shake up a
  department.

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Failing government departments
This department is not fit for purpose. John
Reid on taking over the Home Office in 2006
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Departmental mergers

• From time to time the PM will decide to
  re-organise a department or merge it with another
  department.
• Eg the Department of National Heritage set up by
  John Major in 1992 was merged to form the
  Department of Culture, Media and Sport by Blair
  in 1997.

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Departmental break-ups

• 2007 the Home Office was split in to the Home
  Office and the new Ministry of Justice. Nearly
  every PM will reorganise Whitehall departments
  just the same as they re-shuffle their cabinet.

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Ministerial rivalry
When Blair went on Holiday in 1997 both Mandelson
and Brown told the media they were in charge
whilst the PM was away ! Ministers want to both
win the PMs favour and sometimes outshine the
PM to raise their profile with the public/media.
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Headline grabbing ?
In 2003 Gordon Brown stirred up a media debate
over the case of a comprehensive schoolgirl from
Newcastle who gained five A grades at A level
but was refused a place at Oxford. Was this
anything to do with his job as Chancellor ?
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Headline grabbing ?
In August 2006, John Reid took charge of the
crisis surrounding the terrorist plot to blow
up airliners. The PM was on holiday. Reids
reputation and public profile was enhanced.
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Ministerial workload
Like most MPs, ministers work extremely long
hours and get through several red boxes per
day. A minister is expected to master their brief
in a short space of time. They are also expected
to fight their corner in cabinet and secure
more money for their department. In addition they
must lead debates in the HoC and look after their
own constituencies as MPs.
The Red Box contains a ministers official
paperwork reports, documents, draft bills etc
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Ministers other issues

• Not all ministers have a government department.
• There are usually a couple of ministers who have
  been given a specific role by the PM (eg Minister
  at the Cabinet Office to coordinate other
  ministers)
• These ministers are called Ministers without
  Portfolio (i.e they have no specific department)
• They are usually given ancient titles such as
  Lord Privy Seal or Chancellor of the Duchy of
  Lancaster

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Junior Ministers

• A big government department is too large for a
  cabinet minister to run alone.
• There are usually three or four junior
  ministers (Ministers of State) to act as
  deputies to cabinet ministers (Secretaries of
  State).
• This reflects the ever more complex and busy work
  of government in the 21st Century.

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Who do ministers answer to ?

• The PM (he / she appoints all of them)
• Parliament ( all ministers must be either an MP
  or in the HoL)
• If a major policy error occurs a minister is
  expected to answer questions in parliament and
  resign if he/ she has lost the confidence of
  parliament. This is called ministerial
  responsibility
• However, only those ministers who have lost the
  support of the PM usually end up resigning !!!

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April 2007 The Conservatives call for the
resignation of Des Browne as Secretary of State
for Defence over the mishandling of the sale of
stories to the press by some of the fifteen Royal
Navy hostages captured by Iran.
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To resign or not resign

• Look at item C (page 324)
• What types of reasons are listed for ministerial
  resignations ?
• How many of these were to do with the principle
  of ministerial responsibility ?

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What makes a successful Cabinet minister ?

• Activity 16.1 (pages 319-320)
• Look at items A-D and answer questions 1-3.