With the rise in the professional politician many prefer to remain loyal in order to gain power and move up in the hierarchy as opposed to become a rebel who remains in the back benchers. This can be seen after the vote on tuition fees and the liberal democrats. Despite the fact that they had campaigned for this cause endlessly only 26 (including a few Conservatives) chose to vote against the bill. Whips play an important part in removing efficiency from Parliament. By having whips who ensure that MPs behave in accordance to the decisions of the executive both Parliaments ability to scrutinise and hold the executive to account is diminished, but also their role as representatives of their individual constituency is also compromised.
In 2010 backbenchers were threatening to rebel over tuition fees. This was enough to force concessions to be made so the rebellion wasn’t as large as expected. It could be said that they failed because the bill wasn’t defeated but in a way it was a success as changes were made. This shows that the image of being lobby fodder is being shaken off by the more outspoken MPs. It is difficult for a Backbench MP to influence government policy if a government has a large majority in Parliament.
Source 3 shows a clear disagreement though, as it states Callaghan “struggled to rule effectively until a vote of no-confidence” was called upon. Throughout his government, Callaghan biggest concern was to maintain economic stability but in doing so had destroyed Britain’s industry. As a result of this Callaghan will forever be associated with the Winter of Discontent incident which is exactly what source 3 is suggesting. James, Callaghan is a man of experience is partially why he suited the role of Prime Minister. Source 2 states “The political skills he had perfected in his previous posts were just what was needed” which supports the view that indeed, James Callaghan was a man of experience.
When Keynes rejected the scale of reparations placed on Germany and resigned from his post at the Treasury, he lead the way for what many leading politicians were to understand later on. Keynes supported the approach of Lloyd George that for economic and political reasons, Europe needed a successful Germany, which would be seriously difficult to achieve whilst the excessive reparations were placed on them. Furthermore, his book The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919), was successful in influencing the view of Britain that a weak Germany would only make the recovery of Europe after the war, a lot more difficult. On the other hand, from taking this view, politicians were criticised for being 'too lenient' towards Germany. Even Lloyd George, who took a much tougher political approach towards the reparations, received criticism.
However it could be argued that Wilhelm II’s aims to crush socialism in response to Caprivi’s tolerance for Socialism in his years as chancellor disagree with this view as it suggests he is aiming for more of an autocratic state where he holds state control. Another notable factor which suggests Germany was a parliamentary democracy is Wilhelm II could ignore the views of the centre party; failed attempts to previously dismiss them such as the Kulturkampf were a failure because the party’s strong political views are extremely influential, and they have always had a substantial amount of seats in the party. This in turn meant the government was influenced by the parliament. However, there were many events which demonstrate the Kaiser
The importance of the cabinet could begin to be question right from the selection process as the Prime Minister also known as ‘primus inter pares’ which means first among equals, selects the ministers and could be dismissed at anytime as was seen in the cabinet reshuffle under Tony Blair in 2006 which saw Charles Clarke dismissed, therefore suggesting that the cabinet ministers would show some form of loyalty to the Prime minister and could be likely to support the Prime minister in order to keep their job and could have no major impact on any policy or action. The cabinet ministers’ importance is further undermined by the fact that they are bound by the principle of collective responsibility meaning that they must all take public responsibility for all policies of the government, even if they disagree privately or had nothing to do with the formulation of the policy. This suggests that the cabinet have limitations to the ability to impact the policy as if they don’t take collective responsibility are expected to resign or face rapid dismissal this could
If he is not successful or popular, he will not have the cabinet’s support, making it harder for him to control the cabinet, therefore making his job as prime minister harder. Another limitation on prime ministerial power is that the prime minister does not have power over all factors; there are many which are out of his control. When Harold MacMillan was asked what the most challenging thing about being prime minister is, he answered: ‘Events, dear boy, events’. The prime minister never knows what will happen so cannot plan for these such events. With reference to the source, and your own knowledge, explain the prime minister’s prerogative powers.
The oral questions are sometimes dominated by loyal backbench government supporters, and it is often suggested that the media provide a more effective form of scrutiny than does parliament. MPs have remarkably limited access to resources, partly because of the largely secretive nature of UK government. They can sometimes contribute to the pressure that might ultimately lead to the resignation of an incompetent
The more liberal section of the party hold views in more environmental protection and those who seek to modernise the party, which was Cameron’s initiative, by promoting strong social justice. The Party are in conflict over the European Union, pro-union Tories are in conflict with the Euro- sceptics in the party over whether to call an in-out referendum, a division which has been continually worsening over the years leading to conservative MP’s defecting from the Conservatives to UKIP, for example Douglas Carswell defected to UKIP after saying he didn’t feel David Cameron ‘was serious about the change we need’
The strongest form of power is through force or coercion, whilst the weakest is through influential power. Although David Cameron may be referred to as a powerful person, he does not however have the authority to do as he wishes. An example of this would be that the prime minister cannot pass legislation just because he wants it. Power within politics can be lead by different leadership styles, either being a case of autocratic ruling or democratic leadership. What is authority?