However there are cases in which the media has had positive effects on a Prime Minister’s popularity, such as “The Sun”, which, notably, turned its bias towards Tony Blair and the Labour party before their large win of 1997. Secondly, the cabinet is a large source of the Prime Minister’s power. Although the Prime Minister has the power to appoint and fire the members of his cabinet, these members have the authority to reject the Prime Minister; this was the case for Margaret Thatcher in 1990 after the leadership challenge by Michael Heseltine. The powers of the cabinet mean that a Prime Minister has to have significant support by the members to be able to receive the full amount of power. This source of power is also affected by members of the cabinet whom are too powerful and important to easily dismiss, most recently famous was during Tony Blair’s leadership, 1997 – 2007, and the pressure he received off Gordon Brown to leave.
2. Prime Ministerial Power 2a) With reference to the source, describe two limitations on prime ministerial power (5). There are many limitations on prime ministerial power, for example referring to the source; the cabinet could turn against Prime Minister. They can overrule the Prime Minister’s decisions and go against them, therefore preventing the PM from implementing legislations and new laws. Another limitation referring to the source could be the media becoming very hostile.
I personally say that strength is not given but earned by what you do to get others to approve your intensions. In other words, strengths and weakness depends on a personal capacity to influence the conduct of those in government. Power seems to be based on how influential or persuasive one can be. However, I also think that no matter how much the President tries to get what he wants during his term, the President will never be the most powerful man in the country. He is always sharing his power due to the checks and balances system.
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 Presidency Review 1. The framers of the Constitution both admired and feared centralized leadership. Although they knew that a strong president was needed to protect the nation against foreign and domestic threats, they also worried about the potential abuse of power. The framers believed that having given a much longer list of powers to Congress, they saw the president as a powerful check on legislative action, and as essential to the administration of government. 2.
Analyse the view that the Labour and Conservative parties are dominated by their respective leaders. In recent years there has been much debate as to whether party leaders have too much power over their parties. Many do believe that the two main party leaders in the UK do not dominate their parties as the structure of their party does not allow them to do so, but many more believe that party leaders have great authority over their parties and are fully committed to driving their parties policy with little delegation or use of their cabinet ministers. Historically the Conservative Party leader has been more powerful than the Labour Party leader. People believe this is down to the party’s history; the Labour Party originated from the trade union movement at the turn of the 20th century and originally had a chairman of the Labour MPs in the House of Commons, but no leader.
This is especially true since the role of parties as policy-making machines has gradually declined. As party leader the prime minister is also leader of his party in Parliament, so Parliament is also a source of his power. Finally, we can also say today that the prime minister enjoys the people’s mandate from the previous general election. The electorate, after all, vote for a leader as well as a party. All this means that a modern prime minister has great powers.
Therefore the parliament lacks the legitimate right to ignore the mandate and tends to accept the government’s right to govern. However, despite large majorities, the House of Commons has the authority to dismiss a government through a vote of no confidence. For example, the 1979 vote of no confidence removed Prime Minister James Callaghan from office after a sustained period of industrial unrest and economic problems. This suggests that although government may be powerful, if it tests the limits and becomes autocratic or inefficient, parliament can take measures to
Advisers have always received less accountability than MP’s as advisers do not represent constituencies which provide scrutiny, advisers on the other hand funnel accountability onto the Prime Minister such as Tony Blair. With this done, there is increased media attention on the Prime Minister. With increased attention on Prime Ministers, presidential factors such as style of leadership and charm come into play which are not requirements for Prime Ministers. These spin doctors have also been placed as advisers such as Steve Hilton who was known for working for David Cameron as a think tank. By replacing experienced civil servants with appointed advisers David Cameron created a customised department which suits him.
(The Right Man for the Right Job). His cabinet consisted of eight business men and one labor leader which some called, "Eight millionaires and a plumber." Dwight’s grasp on The American Dream and power, has Eisenhower being seen as a great man and winning his second term by 57.6% of the popular vote. Due to Eisenhower expanding on New Deal Programs, he was able to express his executive power and create new additions to the Government. This is the supremacy of power for most however for Eisenhower this was only the beginning.