Prime Ministers and Cabinets
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9248.1972.tb01074.x |
| Published date | 01 June 1972 |
| Author | G. W. Jones |
| Date | 01 June 1972 |
| Subject Matter | Review Article |
PRIME MINISTERS AND CABINETS1
G.
W.
JONES
London
School
of
Economics
and
Political Science
AN apt title for the nature of British central government eludes observers. Some have discarded
‘Cabinet Government’, along with ‘Parliamentary Government’, in favour of ‘Prime Ministerial
Government’
or
more subtly ‘Government by Prime Minister in Cabinet’. ‘Party Government’
and ‘Administrative Government’ are other competitors. Some, more sensibly, avoid titles and
depict decision-making at the top as complex, with the prime minister, cabinet, cabinet com-
mittees, individual ministers and civil servants, each taking some decisions, yet without clear
distinctions as to who takes what sorts of decisions. But whatever revisionist description is now
advanced, the cabinet itself is frequently denigrated. The argument is that it has become
so
fragmented
or
diluted as now to be barely an institution, just a principle,
or
primus inferpares
a
number of other committees and meetings into which it has disintegrated-inner cabinets,
partial cabinets, cabinet committees, ministerial meetings and
adhoc
sessions between the prime
minister and his ministers.
For
this committee system the cabinet
is
a
kind of holding company;
its meetings keep its members informed of major policy developments, settle interdepartmental
conflicts and test opinion on larger policy issues, but rarely
is
it an effective decision-making
body.
Some illumination into this tangle of central decision-making is shed by the publication in
1971
of the memoirs of a number of leading members of cabinets in the
1950s
and
1960s,
includ-
ing two ex-prime ministers and their deputies. However, none of them presents
a
systematic
analysis of the processes of central government; their reflections on their roles and on the func-
tions of cabinet and prime minister are episodic, scattered throughout their volumes, and never
brought together into a coherent framework. Such is the variability, complexity and inconsist-
ency in their stories that the protagonists of different theories about central government will
find
a
wealth of supporting evidence for their propositions.
Mr. Wilson has made a number of general observations about the role of the prime minister
that do not fully fit together. Early on in the life of his government he claimed
to
be
the conductor
of the orchestra, not the player of the instruments, and in his book he states that from the start
he modelled himself on Mr. Attlee’s style of prime ministership. However on ITV after
his
book’s
publication Mr. Wilson said that he was more interventionist in his ministers’ affairs when he
first took office than later, since only he and two other cabinet ministers had sat in a cabinet
before; as his colleagues gained experience,
so
he was able to withdraw. Three other factors
strengthened his influence during his early months in office. As the victor of the general election
he received more deference from his colleagues than later when the government’s popularity
fell; the slim majority of the government further increased their propensity not to challenge
him, as did their feeling that the country was undergoing an economic crisis for which swift
action was needed. But even in these circumstances he had to work with and through his two
leading economic ministers, Mr. Brown and Mr. Callaghan; their support was essential for
winning cabinet ratification for his economic measures. Thus at the very time when conditions
were ripest for the exercise of prime ministerial power the restraints of cabinet government
operated. The cabinet accepted the measures he proposed not just because he proposed them,
1
THE
ART
OF
THE POSSIBLE.
By
LORD
BUTLER.
(Hamilton,
1971.
Pp.
x
+
274. €3.75.)
RIDING
THE STORM,
1956-1959.
By
HAROLD
MACMILLAN.
(Macmillun,
1971.
Pp. viii
+
786.
€4.20.)
THE LABOUR GOVERNMENT,
1964-1970.
By
HAROLD
WILSON.
(Weidenfeld
&
Nicolson
and
Michael
Joseph,
1971.
Pp. xviii
+
836. f4.80.)
IN
MY
WAY.
By
GEORGE BROWN.
(Gollancz,
1971.
Pp.
299. €3.00.)
DENIS HEALEY AND THE POLICIES
OF
POWER.
By
0.
WILLIAMS
anda.
REED.
(Sidgwick
&Jackson,
1971.
Pp.
286. €3.50.)
SYDNEY SILVERMAN.
By
EMRYS
HUGHES.
(Chas.
Skilton,
1969.
Pp. xi
+
236. €1.75.)
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