The Cabinet

... g from their job, and these express the true feelings of the ministers, possibly suggesting that total confidentiality is unachievable. In the 1970s, the publication of 'Diaries of a Cabinet Minister' by Richard Crossman was controversial as it revealed Minister's views and Cabinet disagreements.

A reason which believes the doctrine is effective is the argument that collective responsibility strengthens the hand of the Prime Minister, as they know which ministers are unlikely to publicly disagree or resign. They are then able to 'pick and mix' the most loyal and trustworthy ministers to form the Cabinet. Also, Junior Ministers have recently been subject to the convention, along with Parliamentary private secretaries, whips and the shadow cabinet. This may be a positive thing as there is more coherence in politics, but it may be false unity on issues such as Poll Tax as the majority of ministers will not want to vote in favour of an issue that will upset the voting population.

Another criticism of the concept of Cabinet responsibility is the fact that there are many long standing arguments between members of the Cabinet, such as those between John Prescott and Gordon Brown. Even though this feud is likely to be a battle for power as they are probably the next most powerful political figures along with Jack Straw, it still shows a lack of unity within the Cabinet. Also, the concept implies that power and responsibility will be shared equally between all members of the Cabinet, but the power aspect of this statement is wrong as Brown, Prescott, Straw and Blair have considerably more power than the other, and overall Blair has the ultimate power to choose and fire Cabinet ministers.

Even though there have been arguments in recent years that undoubtedly question the convention of collective responsibility, there is proof, in recent years, in the resignations of Michael Hesletine in 1986 and Geoffrey Howe in 1990, to demonstrate that the convention has worked, even if these cases have been under criticism.

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Cabinet Committees are set up to relieve the pressure on the Cabinet by setting business in a smaller forum or at a lower level, or by clarifying issues and defining points of agreement. Committees enable decisions to be fully considered by those Ministers most closely concerned in a way that ensures Government as a whole can be expected to accept responsibility for them. They act through devolution of authority from the Cabinet and their decisions, therefore, has almost the same status as the decisions made within the full Cabinet itself. Once a policy is approved by a committee, it may gain so much power that it is difficult to overturn in even in the Cabinet. Cabinet Committees usually compose of a mixture of Cabinet and non-Cabinet ministers, usually from departments which have an interest in the issue, and are chaired by a senior Cabinet minister; the most important committees being chaired by the Prime Minister. The committee system has grown over recent years, mainly due to the fact that the functions of the Cabinet have increased, so any business that the Cabinet ...