The Prime Minister presides over the leadership of whatever political party, has been elected into electoral office and proceeds to run the country on behalf of those within the British electorate that voted for his/her administration. The role of the Prime Minister is in the UK’s uncodified constitution, which has evolved over time and is now treated simply as a matter of convention, starting from the time of Robert Walpole (generally considered to be Britain’s first Prime Minister) to present day, the incumbent leader of the Conservatives, David Cameron.
Over the course of British political history, we have seen a debate arise, questioning the true powers of the Prime Minister and just how far his power and authority stretch. Over the course of this essay, I attend to go through the many considerable powers the Prime Minister wields and outline them in detail, along with evidence to support and counteract that argument, and call into question, the true extent of the powers, entrusted to the Prime Minister.
If we are going to pursue the notion, that the Prime Minister’s powers are considerable, a reason for it, would be the idea of power of patronage and the ability to “hire and fire” those within the Cabinet. Traditionally, Prime Ministers have surrounded themselves, with “yes” people, those who simply accept the wishes of the Prime Minister and rarely intervene in Cabinet discussions. However, we have seen many examples of how those previously within Cabinet, have rebelled against the Prime Minister and have openly criticised the policies being undertaken by them, over sensitive and crucial issues and as a result have been removed from the Cabinet. A key example would be the dismissal of Clare Short, (Former Labour Cabinet minister) over the impending war in Iraq in 2003, in which Short openly disagreed with Blair, over UK involvement in Iraq, without a UN resolution and repeatedly labelled Blair as “reckless” and threatened to resign. Nevertheless, Short...