The Prime Minister Of Great Britain Essay
, Research Paper
The Prime Minister of Great Britain
There are a batch of political issues in Great Britain today. United
Kingdom is a big, industrialised democratic society and as such it has to hold
political relations and hence political issues. One of those issues how should
executive subdivision work and whether the Prime Minister has excessively much power. Right
now in Great Britain there is a great argument on this issue and I am traveling to
examine it in item. The facts I have used here are from different Hagiographas on
British political relations which are all listed in my bibliography, but the sentiments are
my ain and so are the statements that I used to back up my positions.
First allow me explicate the procedure through which a individual becomes a Prime
Minister. The PM is selected by the crowned head. He ( or she ) chooses a adult male who
can command the support of bulk of the members of the House of Commons.
Such a adult male is usually the leader of the largest party in the House. Where two
are challengers in a three party competition such as those which occurred in the 1920s he
is normally selected from the party which wins the greatest figure of seats. The
Prime Minister is assumed to be the pick of his party and presents, so far as
he can be ascertained, engagement of a sovereign is a pure formality. Anyone
suggested for this highest political office evidently has to be a really smart and
willing person, in fact it has been suggested that he be an & # 8220 ; uncommon adult male of
common sentiments & # 8221 ; ( Douglas V. Verney ) . Not all Prime Ministers fitted this measure
precisely, but every on of them had to go through one of import trial: day-to-day
examination of their motivations and behaviour by fellow members of Parliament
before they were finally elected to the leading of their party. Unlike
Presidents of the United States all Prime Curates have served a long
apprenticeship in the legislative assembly and have been curates in old Cabinets.
Many Presidents of our state have been elected and on many occasions they have
ne’er even met some of their future colleagues, such as instance of Kissinger and
Nixon who have ne’er even met anterior to Nixon & # 8217 ; s assignment.
Let & # 8217 ; s now examine the statutory responsibilities and duties of the Prime
Minister. Unlike the United States where the President & # 8217 ; s responsibilities are
specifically written out in the Constitution, the powers of the Prime Minister
are about nowhere spelled out in a legislative act. Unlike his chap curates he
does non have the seals of office: he simply kisses the custodies of the sovereign
like an embassador.
The Prime Minister has four countries of duties. He is a caput of
the Government ; he speaks for the Government in the House of Commons ; he is the
nexus between the Government and the crowned head ; he is the leader of the state.
He is main executive, main legislator and main embassador. As we can see the
PM has an broad scope of powers, possibly excessively broad. As caput of the Government the
Prime Minister has the power to urge the assignment and dismissal of all
other curates. Army for the liberation of rwanda from being simply first among peers, he is the dominant
figure. Curates wait in the hall of PMs office on No.10 Dowling Street before
being called into the Cabinet room. He may himself keep other portfolios such
as that of Foreign Secretary ( as did Lord Salisbury ) or Minister of Defense ( as
did Mr. Churchill ) . He has general supervising over all sections and
appoints both the Permanent Secretary and the Parliamentary Secretary. The
Cabinet office keeps a record of Cabinet determinations to do certain that PM has up
to day of the month information. He controls the docket which the office prepares for
Cabinet meetings. There is a smaller Prime Minister & # 8217 ; s Private Office which
consists of a chief private secretary and a half a twelve other staff drawn
from civil service. Possibly owing to American influence the two offices are
going progressively popular and there are marks that the Prime Minister is no
longer content to be aided by nonpolitical civil retainers. There is small
uncertainty that if he chooses the PM can be in complete bid of his Cabinet.
The PM must besides give leading in the House of Commons, though he
normally appoints a co-worker as Leader of the House. He speaks for the
Government on of import matters-increasingly, inquiries are directed to him
personally-and controls the concern of the House through the Future Legislation
Committee of the Cabinet which he appoints chiefly from the senior
nondepartamental curates. Since the success of his legislative plan
depends chiefly on support of his party he must as a party leader attend to his
responsibilities and guarantee that the machinery of his party is working decently and in the
custodies of work forces he could swear. Basically the PM controls his party and in kernel
he controls the Parliament, but that is non all. The PM entirely can bespeak the
crowned head to fade out the Parliament and name a new election, it is unfastened to
argument whether it is this power to let him the control of the party and the
Parliament. I agree with this statement wholly because if the PM doesn & # 8217 ; T
like the manner it is traveling with his party he can ever denote new election so
the Parliament reasonably much backs up whatever the PM proposes. This is my chief
statement for this paper. In United Kingdom there is no system of cheques and
balances like there is in United States. In UK the PM and the Cabinet make a
determination which is so about blindly supported by the Parliament. A existent
democracy can non work T
his manner where there is one individual of power and the
remainder can barely make anything about it. Members of the bulk party will non travel
against the will of PM because it means traveling against the will of their ain
party and that is unheard of in England, members of the opposing party can non make
anything because they are a minority. The Queen herself is a figure-head and
does non hold any existent power. The PM is a nexus between the sovereign and the
Government, he keeps the Queen aware of what goes on with the Cabinet, the
Government and the universe at big. Although the Queen is a fictional figure and
has no existent power she can damage the repute of the Government and the full
state by one careless word. It is the Prime Minister & # 8217 ; s duties to
maintain the sovereign good informed. Other curates nevertheless can merely see the
sovereign with the PMs permission ( the sovereign nevertheless can see whomever she
chooses ) . As we can see, here is another illustration of PM holding excessively much
power. He fundamentally has an sole relationship with the sovereign and controls
who can see the Queen and who can non. In US this is unthinkable, any
congresswoman can bespeak an audience with the President if he wants and if let & # 8217 ; s
state the Chief of Staff wanted to restrict that in any manner so he would run into
some serious jobs.
Finally the PM is the leader of the state. In clip of crisis the
people expect him to do an proclamation and to look on telecasting.
Increasingly he should be a adult male who can non merely procure the assurance of House
of Commons, but of the adult male in the street or instead the adult male in the armchair in
forepart of the telecasting. Elections are apparently fought between two
single parliamentary campaigners, but in pattern they are competitions between
national parties which offer their ain political and economical plans. The
parties convey an & # 8220 ; image & # 8221 ; to the state through the voice and visual aspect of
their leaders. The Prime Minister must outshine his challenger, the Leader of the
Resistance. In the 1964 election, when the Liberals doubled their ballot, much
importance was attached to the Television public presentation of the Broad leader, Jo Grismond.
The Head of State and traditional & # 8220 ; symbol of the Nation & # 8221 ; may be the
Queen and the Royals, but the main executive is in world the PM. It is to
his desk that finally all hard jobs come whether these involve
engagement in NATO, the balance of payment crisis, the budget-or even the
royals & # 8217 ; love personal businesss ( as in 1936 and once more in the 80 & # 8217 ; s and 90 & # 8217 ; s ) . It is the PM
that has to typify his state & # 8217 ; s policies abroad and it is he who must
personally convince political leaders in other states that his Government can
be relied upon.
The Prime Minister is besides main legislator. Through the Future
Legislation Committee, he determines which measures the House of Commons will
discuss during the session, and can attach whatever importance he chooses to the
Immigration Bill or Steel Nationalization Bill. With few exclusions measures are
introduced in the House by the Government and if they are of import they require
the backup of the Premier.
Besides he is the main decision maker. Not merely does he oversee the
sections and chair Cabinet meetings but he directs the Cabinet Office and the
Office of Prime Minister. In economic personal businesss he decides governmental scheme
in concurrence with his Chancellor of the Exchequer and Minister of Economic
Personal businesss, if there is one, and leaves these curates to implement his policies.
In defence policy he chairs the Defense Committee of the Cabinet, go forthing the
inside informations to the Secretary of Defense ( Army, Navy and Air Force ) and the Chiefs of
Staff. Foreign Affairs, usually the duty of the Foreign Secretary,
necessitate the intercession of the PM when truly of import determinations have to be
made.
As we can see the PM is potentially a really powerful figure. Everything
depends on how he chooses to utilize this power and the success with which he
delegates some of his duties.
All PMs have had an interior circle of curates to which he turns when
speedy determinations have to be taken. The more of import departmental curates
be given to be the Foreign Secretary, the Home Secretary and the Chancellor of the
Exchequer ; but these may non compose the interior circle of the given PM. Senior
curates don & # 8217 ; Ts have to be the members of the interior circle. They normally are,
but non all the clip. The Cabinet is normally as follows: the PM, three to six
interior circle members and the balance of the Cabinet which figure about 15.
I think it is obvious to see why the PM needs an interior circle. In United
States for illustration the President can O.K. the assignment of a individual to a
high political place without holding of all time met him/her. In Britain this would
sound pathetic, all major political figures know each other for old ages holding
likely gone to same schools together. The Brits believe that good friends
do good determination shapers which to me sounds really sensible. This fact can be
viewed from two different positions: some people say that when a new PM is
elected he normally appoints all his friends to high places by making this he
creates an interior coterie with which he governs as an absolute swayer, the
opposing position says that you need to cognize your co-workers for old ages in order to
successfully work with them. Both positions have a point and this is a really hot
subject in British political relations right now. Personally I thin