"Evaluate the view that since 2010 the UK has seen a return to cabinet
government (30)".
The Cabinet is placed at the centre of power in the UK political system, sometimes working
in a system of government called “Cabinet government” whereby Cabinet acts as a body to
clear and legitimise of cial government decisions and policies. Cabinet is necessary for the
Prime Minister to survive in government when in a period of Cabinet government as seen in
Theresa May’s government in 2016-2019. However, across history this is not always the
case, where there has been areas of prime ministerial predominance making cabinet
overlooked and disregarded entirely in parliamentary business. Therefore there is more
persuading that the UK has not seen a return to cabinet government since 2010.
It can be argued that the UK has since 2010 seen a return to a form of cabinet government
due to the coalition seen between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats following a hung
parliament result in the 2010 general election. Cameron, as the leader of the conservative
party, receiving the largest vote share of the election deemed it necessary to create a
coalition to avoid the daunting prospect of a minority government like seen with Callaghan
and Major. This is because a minority government would face the imminent prospect of
defeat on policy and governmental decisions. Cabinet places were apportioned to the two
parties, leaving the Liberal Democrats with 5 Cabinet appointments. The coalition can be
seen as a catalyst to a return to Cabinet government as the Cabinet became increasingly
important from previous years in carrying out speci c functions to ensure agreement across
the parties. These included settling and resolving disputes that were inevitable under a
coalition and clarifying whether policy had been agreed between coalition partners, which
would make it subject to collective responsibility. Cabinet as a result of the coalition became
more in uential than seen in previous prime ministerial or even presidential governments as
seen with Thatcher and Blair, where Cabinet was denoted to a rubber stamp that merely
con rmed policy. Cabinet now consisted of members from different parties that would be
consulted frequently by Cameron when proposing policy initiatives or settling disputes,
allowing ministers to become inherently in uential on policy as they had input on
governmental decisions and outcomes.
However, Cameron can also be seen to marginalise Cabinet by proposing an inner cabinet
that is readily regarded as the “Quad” and also through the collapse of Clegg’s image
following his broken pledge on tuition fees. The Quad consisted of the Prime Minister, Deputy
Prime Minister (Nick Clegg), Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Treasury chief, putting
forward the idea that Cabinet is too big to serve the PM constantly and that the inner cabinet
allows a more secure and transparent discussion of policy. By creating the Quad Cameron
was able to bypass the collective Cabinet entirely, taking major decisions between the 4
rather than consulting cabinet and facing rejection. Similarly Cameron was also able to
undermine Cabinet government by managing to push through his own policy such as
austerity policies and the policy to legalise same sex marriage, which was opposed by a
majority of his own party. This acts in contradiction to cabinet government, aligning with the
government (30)".
The Cabinet is placed at the centre of power in the UK political system, sometimes working
in a system of government called “Cabinet government” whereby Cabinet acts as a body to
clear and legitimise of cial government decisions and policies. Cabinet is necessary for the
Prime Minister to survive in government when in a period of Cabinet government as seen in
Theresa May’s government in 2016-2019. However, across history this is not always the
case, where there has been areas of prime ministerial predominance making cabinet
overlooked and disregarded entirely in parliamentary business. Therefore there is more
persuading that the UK has not seen a return to cabinet government since 2010.
It can be argued that the UK has since 2010 seen a return to a form of cabinet government
due to the coalition seen between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats following a hung
parliament result in the 2010 general election. Cameron, as the leader of the conservative
party, receiving the largest vote share of the election deemed it necessary to create a
coalition to avoid the daunting prospect of a minority government like seen with Callaghan
and Major. This is because a minority government would face the imminent prospect of
defeat on policy and governmental decisions. Cabinet places were apportioned to the two
parties, leaving the Liberal Democrats with 5 Cabinet appointments. The coalition can be
seen as a catalyst to a return to Cabinet government as the Cabinet became increasingly
important from previous years in carrying out speci c functions to ensure agreement across
the parties. These included settling and resolving disputes that were inevitable under a
coalition and clarifying whether policy had been agreed between coalition partners, which
would make it subject to collective responsibility. Cabinet as a result of the coalition became
more in uential than seen in previous prime ministerial or even presidential governments as
seen with Thatcher and Blair, where Cabinet was denoted to a rubber stamp that merely
con rmed policy. Cabinet now consisted of members from different parties that would be
consulted frequently by Cameron when proposing policy initiatives or settling disputes,
allowing ministers to become inherently in uential on policy as they had input on
governmental decisions and outcomes.
However, Cameron can also be seen to marginalise Cabinet by proposing an inner cabinet
that is readily regarded as the “Quad” and also through the collapse of Clegg’s image
following his broken pledge on tuition fees. The Quad consisted of the Prime Minister, Deputy
Prime Minister (Nick Clegg), Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Treasury chief, putting
forward the idea that Cabinet is too big to serve the PM constantly and that the inner cabinet
allows a more secure and transparent discussion of policy. By creating the Quad Cameron
was able to bypass the collective Cabinet entirely, taking major decisions between the 4
rather than consulting cabinet and facing rejection. Similarly Cameron was also able to
undermine Cabinet government by managing to push through his own policy such as
austerity policies and the policy to legalise same sex marriage, which was opposed by a
majority of his own party. This acts in contradiction to cabinet government, aligning with the
