The Prime Minister is not the Head of State. That is the Queen. However, the Queen's political role is entirely ceremonial, and any executive powers held by the Crown are executed by the government, the head of which is the Prime Minister.
Primus Inter Pares
There are two main theories about the powers of the Prime Minister: Cabinet Government and Prime Ministerial Government. Classic works of authority about the UK constitution (such as Bagehot and Erskine May) suggest that the UK has Cabinet Government. This means that government is done by committee. The Cabinet is not just a group of individual heads of department, they have a key collective role as a group. They meet weekly to run the country. In this theory, the Prime Minister is just primus inter pares (first among equals).
The collective nature of decision-making in the UK Cabinet gave birth to the concept of collective responsibility: because the decision has been taken by a group, no Cabinet minister (or in fact any member of the government) can publically oppose that decision without first resigning from their position.
The Prime Ministerial Government theory was developed by Cabinet Ministers from the 1960s and 1970s such as Richard Crossman and Tony Benn, who argued that the Prime Minister was something close to an elected dictator, with the Cabinet having a very minor role as a collective body. In fact, the later cabinets of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair (in particular) could be seen to be far more "Prime Ministerial" (or autocratic) than the Wilson and Callaghan government that Crossman and Benn were concerned about.
Powers of the Prime Minister
- Patronage Powers: The Prime Minister is the chief appointing officer for the government. This power is absolutely fundamental. After all, one of the key areas where the Prime Minister is able to appoint people is to government jobs, including Cabinet positions. So the Prime Minister is able to choose a "friendly" Cabinet. David Cameron had to appoint a certain number of Liberal Democrats because of his coalition agreement, but most PMs have a majority government and can therefore appoint who they like. They can also appoint members of the House of Lords.
- Head of Government Policy. All political parties in the UK have their own policy-making procedures, but the Prime Minister is the head of Government policy and the head of the Civil Service.
- Senior Representative Overseas. Although the Foreign Secretary heads the department that deals with foreign affairs, the PM meets with heads of state and is the chief diplomat.
- Party Leader in Parliament. A massive power that the UK Prime Minister has is that s/he leads the largest party in the House of Commons. Through party whips, they can maintain party discipline, they almost always have a majority and can therefore get all their legislation passed without much difficulty
- Main Spokesperson for the Government. The PM is also the main spokesperson for the government; as such they account for the government's activities both to Parliament (in Prime Minister's Questions) and in the media.
- Royal Prerogatives. The Prime Minister can also exercise the powers of the Crown, without consulting parliament; this includes signing Treaties (which, in the case of many European Union treaties can be of huge constitutional significance), making appointments (including Lords, bishops, etc.) and declaring war.
Checks on the PM's Powers
The key check on the Prime Minister's power comes from the British people (who can remove a government in a general election), and their party members (who can replace the party leader and therefore the Prime Minister through their processes).
The Prime Minister is just the leader of the biggest party, and is not directly elected. That is why Margaret Thatcher could be removed without a General Election (she was removed by her own, Conservative Party). It is also why Gordon Brown could become Prime Minister without a General Election, he was chosen to replace the resigning Tony Blair by the Labour Party.
If the Prime Minister has a large majority and is popular with party and people, they are very powerful indeed. Prime Ministers can also choose to be Prime Ministerial or collegiate (preferring Cabinet Government). The collegiate Prime Minister can be seen as weak, but the Prime Ministerial Prime Minister tends to take the bulk of the blame when things start to go wrong.
In theory, Parliament, press and Cabinet are all checks and balances on the powers of the Prime Minister, but each can be questioned. Parliament is dominated by the Prime Minister: s/he is its leading member, the leader of its biggest party and can use the whips to force through legislation. The biggest party in parliament is made of members who either have been given a job by the PM or want to be given one! S/he chooses the Cabinet and can promote, demote or sack them at his or her pleasure.
The press is more independent of the PM but editors or owners of the press may share the PM's politics or want to get a peerage or other title themselves...
In good times, the Prime Minister's powers are considerable and s/he has a more dominant position in the UK constitution than the President has in the US constitution, despite the stronger mandate that comes with direct election.
Duncan Hall - Duncan Hall is a semi-professional acoustic musician and lecturer in Government & Politics
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