The Role of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

Prime Minister and Cabinet

This course explores the Prime Minister and cabinet, drawing examples from the tenures of Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May throughout. We begin with the history of the role of Prime Minister, before moving on in the second module to discuss the conventions of individual and collective responsibility. We then turn in the third module to the various powers of a Prime Minister, before exploring sources of Prime Ministerial power in the fourth, fifth and sixth modules. Here, we focus on personality and style, authority and resources, and the power to “hire and fire”, using comparative examples from the tenures of Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May throughout. In the seventh module, we focus in on the cabinet and relative power balance between Prime Minister and cabinet, before concluding in the eighth module with some comments on other actors who shape how UK government policy is made, including special advisors and MPs in political parties. This course provides both conceptual knowledge and a variety of helpful examples for the “UK Politics – The Executive” section of the A Level exam specifications.

The Role of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

In this module, we offer an overview of the role of the Prime Minister and cabinet, focusing in particular on: (i) the history of the role of Prime Minister; (ii) similarities and differences between the original role of Prime Minister and that fulfilled by Boris Johnson today; (iii) the relationship between Prime Minister and cabinet; (iv) the functions and powers of the Prime Minister; (v) the functions and powers of the cabinet; (vi) a biographical overview of our two key “case study” Prime Ministers for today: Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.