Tony Blair was a charismatic man, a clever ‘spin doctor’ and after each election he also possessed a large mandate which allowed him to dominate his cabinet for some time. John Major, on the other hand, was the “grey man” of British politics, lacking in charisma and with an initial majority of 22, though this eventually became a minority government. Compared to Blair, Major was deficient in charisma and was unable to command the same presence, both in the media and in government. The final source of power is that of the office of Prime Minister and the conventions and powers it entails. A Prime Minister is entitled to personally chair cabinet meetings, control the appointment of ministers to cabinet and even control both the agenda and the minutes of a meeting.
More dominant figures such as Thatcher and Blair have capitalised heavily on both strength of their personality and their parliamentary majorities. The creation of a more developed policy unit in Downing Street is effectively creating a "Prime Minister's Department". However it can be argued that the prime minister such as Tony blair, has not got a chance of effectively being a president, for example he prefered to dominate foreign and international affairs. The individuals of the UK, could argue that instead of focusing on other countries such as Pakistans, Afghanistan, he should of helped the UK more, improving and making it a better place to live in. An example of where this is present is, he distanced himself from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office so cut himself off from civil servants that could have questioned his views.
Overtime, the role of the cabinet may have increasingly been seen to be less and this may have changed peoples’ perception on the system of government used in the UK. The fact that a Prime Minister can dominate parliamentary proceedings gives him/her great power, and this has been linked to the concept of an ‘elective dictatorship’. Prime Minister dominance has occurred in recent years, with the leadership styles of Thatcher and Blair being of particular significance. Blair as prime minister used bilateral meetings with ministers, to discuss important policy decisions. This led to dominance over the cabinet and Blair being seen more as a ‘President’ than a Prime Minister.
Although we are currently in a coalition the government still has a majority through the combination of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. This therefore often renders opposition as a form of scrutiny meaningless and also means that it is difficult for the executive to be held to account. Party loyalty is also very strong. The power of prime ministerial patronage renders many MPs excessively docile and loyal, hence the term ‘lobby fodder’. 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.
The most senior members are the prime minister, secretaries of state, Ministers of state and parliamentary under-secretaries. The Prime minister has the duty of being in charge and selects the other members of government. There are many important departments in central government and they all are crucial but are different roles in controlling the country. The departments include home office and department of health, but also involve sport and media and the department of culture. These departments are ruled by Secretaries state that has complete liability and are staffed by impartial civil servants who get their income from money provided by parliament.
Like presidents, modern prime ministers can generate different political resources through these different roles and the techniques required by them. At the same time and in similar fashion to presidential politics, prime ministers are increasingly monitored and assessed according to criteria that are quite different to those experienced by senior colleagues, also like Presidents a modern day prime minister is often voted in due to factors that have nothing/ little to do with their political agendas, for example in 1997 Tony Blair
Has the Prime Minister become more powerful in recent years? (40) The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the head of government and so exercises many of the executive functions nominally vested in the Sovereign, who is head of state. According to custom, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, which he or she heads, are accountable for their actions to Parliament, of which they are members by modern convention. The current Prime Minister is David Cameron (of the Conservative Party), who has been in office since 2010, and the Deputy Prime Minister – Nick Clegg, due to the Coalition. During Mr. Cameron’s period in office and also, many Prime Ministers before him like Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, there’s been wide spread debate about whether the power of the prime minister has increased.
In the US the executive branch is associated with the President, the Vice President, Executive Departments, and Agencies. In both the UK and the US the executive is by far the most popular branch of the government, being constantly in the media’s spotlight. However it seems to be an overstatement to suggest that in the UK the executive dominates everything, it could be argued that it dominates most political areas and that it has sufficiently more power than the US executive. There are multiple reasons for why this is the case. The constitutional status of the executives is a crucial factor.
Parliament as the main legislative body has got many functions. According to classification of Prof. Norton, these functions can be divided into several categories. In legal theory Parliament refers to the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Crown. In practice, the Crown plays a largely ceremonial role as head of state, while the legislative process unfolds within the two Houses of Parliament. The House of Commons The House of Commons, the lower House, is the most powerful of the two Houses of Parliament.
It has been argued though, that we now have Prime Ministerial Government as opposed to Cabinet Government, due to the shift in power towards the Prime Minister over the years from Thatcher to Blair. More important than head of the Cabinet, the Prime Minister is the leader of the