Prime Ministers have a set of institutional power resources making them pre-eminent

within their government. Discuss.

The institutional power resources of the prime minster are considered as where
the power of the prime minister emanates.1 The institutional power resources of
the prime minster includes being the legal head of the government and using the
crown prerogatives, as well as to appoint and dismiss within government. The
setting of policy agendas through leadership of the government, organising a de
facto prime ministerial department to strengthen Downing street as well as
setting government agenda through the media.2 These institutional resources are
all vital to the running of the government and the prime minister is but one
actor. The role of the core executive model demonstrates that there is now a
significant prime ministerial role within the government.
This essay will explore the role of the institutional power resources in detail to
examine whether the notion of prime ministers being pre-eminent within their
government. The role of cabinets, media and the opposition will be examined to
gauge the pre-eminence and gauge the impact of institutional power resources
for prime ministers. The terms of previous prime ministers will also be
incorporated to facilitate understanding of how institutional power resources are
in effect and used throughout their terms.

The institutional power resource of the prime minster being the head of the
government and using the crown prerogatives, as well as to appoint and dismiss
government procedures. The prime minister also controls the conduct of
foreign relations and the maintenance of national security and the chairing of
cabinet meetings. One of the main goals of the prime minster is to uphold high
approval ratings and successfully manage the government and their
administration to stay in power. Commentators have been arguing the
increasing power of the prime minister since the 1960s and has now reached a
transition stage from cabinet government to prime ministerial government.
Crossman adduces that since the post war epoch has seen the final
transformation of cabinet government into prime ministerial government 3.
Prime ministerial government is where the prime minister is now dominant in

1 Heffernan, R. (2012). There's No Need for the '-isation': The Prime Minister Is
Merely Prime Ministerial. Parliamentary Affairs, 66(3), pp.640.
2 Ibid pp.641.
3
Blick, D., Jones, P., Blick, D. and Jones, P. (2012). The Institution of Prime Minister |
History of government. [online] History.blog.gov.uk. Available at:
https://history.blog.gov.uk/2012/01/01/the-institution-of-prime-minister/ [Accessed 9 Mar.
2017].
terms of the executive. The evolution of the cabinet committees enabled the
prime minister to exercise control over their memberships. Prime Ministers are
forming inner cabinets which can be viewed as a way to bypass the full cabinet
meeting. The effect of the prime ministerial government can be witnessed
during the terms of Tony Blair. The decision to go to war in Ira in 2003
demonstrated a level of allowing institutional power resources to play a role in
his pre-eminence. The decision of the House of Commons to vote largely in
favour of the war is set on a sexed up dossier presented by Alistair Campbell
which claimed that Iraq has the power to deploy Weapons of Mass Destruction
within 45 minutes even though there was no evidence to this dossier. Blair
manipulated his cabinet, the Commons and the general public and his personal
power resources aided him to enact this in a predominant manner. Blair did not
call his full cabinet instead choosing to consult on a close circle of advisors.
Blair even gave special powers to Campbell, who was often dubbed the real
deputy prime minister who gave orders to civil servants.4 Blairs institutional
power resources in policy areas were being used to demonstrate his pre-
eminence in government

The institutional power resource of the media is another tool that aids the prime
ministers pre-eminence in their government.5 The increased use of media has
been beneficial in shaping and controlling the governments official news
media. The rising flow of information that is being streamed out to the public
constantly through the television, radio and newspaper outlets gives the prime
minister a greater scope to influence. Being pre-eminent with the use of media
stems from prime ministers ability to control the flow of information to the
public through the increased use of special advisors. New Labour was
considered the most media obsessed government that Britain had has in modern
times.6 Alastair Campbell, a former tabloid newspaper journalist and Peter
Mandelson, a former televisions current affairs producer, worked closely with
Blair to curate the image of Prime Minster, Blair within the media. Blair,
Campbell and Mendelson witnessed Neil Kinnock being victim to hostile
journalism abetted by a pretty ruthless number 10 operation in the Thatcher era
and had resolved this will never happen to us again.7 Campbell being Blairs

4
Assinder, N. (2003). The life and times of Alastair Campbell. BBC News. [online] Available
at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2977978.stm [Accessed 9 Mar. 2017].
5
Heffernan, R. (2012). There's No Need for the '-isation': The Prime Minister Is Merely
Prime Ministerial. Parliamentary Affairs, 66(3), pp.641.
6
Marr, A. (2007). How Blair put the media in a spin. BBC News. [online] Available at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6638231.stm [Accessed 9 Mar. 2017].
7
Marr, A. (2007). How Blair put the media in a spin. BBC News. [online] Available at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6638231.stm [Accessed 9 Mar. 2017].
main advisor and spin doctor emphasis on spin whereby seemingly bad
news are released at opportunistic moments and releasing of information close
to media deadlines thus to prevent them checking the reliability of it. The use of
spin can also backfire as it can undermine trust in the government and put into
question the credibility of the prime minster.

However, the pre-eminence that prime ministers enjoy with the media can also
be short-lived. The control that the prime minster exercises over their
government can be largely shaped by the demands of the media. The earliest
signs of party dissention are used to attack leader and contradictory messages
from different parts of the party are immediately portrayed as signs of problems
and weakness for prime ministers. The medias over tendency to glorify and
make politics more appealing will often lead them to hyping up new stories
such as turning a criticism into a scathing attack. Camerons pre-eminence was
challenged by the media by Eurosceptics within his own government pressuring
to be offered the vote to leave the European Union. The consequent portrayal
of Cameron in the media was one that highlighted the undermining that
Eurosceptic rebels placed on Cameron by bringing his authority over the party
to question.8 The portrayal of the prime minster in the media is vastly important
as it controls the image that is also presented to the electorate thus a prime
minster who is deemed inefficient and weak to control his party calls into
question whether they are efficient to run the government. To gain return to
being pre-eminent, prime ministers will often take control of the government
message away from departments over all areas of policy to control the narrative
and avoid chaos in government. Cameron achieved this by relaxing his grip and
giving concessions with the Eurosceptic within his own cabinet and party by
offering the European Union referendum9 however as this lead to his
resignation due to the defeat; it characterised how institutional power resources
do not make prime ministers pre-eminent.

Heffernan characterises that the prime minster can become predominant within
the party, parliament and government when they supplement their institutional
power resources with personal power resources.10 The element of

8
Parker, G. and Warrell, H. (2014). Eurosceptic rebels prompt Cameron retreat in
immigration debate. Financial Times. [online] Available at:
https://www.ft.com/content/452bbe04-8990-11e3-abc4-00144feab7de [Accessed 9 Mar.
2017].
9
Parker, G. (2016). Cameron gives Euro sceptics in cabinet free vote in EU poll. Financial
Times. [online] Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/083140a2-b3bc-11e5-8358-
9a82b43f6b2f [Accessed 9 Mar. 2017].

10https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmpolcon/842/842vw11

.htm
predomination is what further strengthens their pre-eminence within the
government. These four main personal power skills are reputation, association
with political success, electoral popularity and having a high standing in their
parliamentary party. The prime ministers handling of their personal power
resources can be a great factor in handling their predominance and upholding
their pre-eminence. Blair, pre-2003 is characterised as having personal power
resources in abundance thus the better resourced, the more powerful and
predominant the prime minster; the poorer resourced, the less powerful and
predominant. These personal powers are highly contextualised as they can be
acquired or squandered over their prime ministerial term. All prime ministers
are pre-eminent but not all will be predominant.
The pre-eminence of the Prime ministers institutional power resources can be
challenged through the system of checks and balances to challenge the actions
of the government. The House of Commons can scrutinise the work of the
government through parliamentary questions, debates and select committees.
Parliamentary questions (PMQs) are a weekly half hour timetabled event where
the Prime minister is questioned over policy areas and governmental actions.
Whilst PMQs are meant to be a tool for accountability and legislative scrutiny
of the executive; the opposite is what is being witnessed. PMQs have gained
the reputation of increasingly being used by MPs to yell and heckle in a
thoroughly unbecoming manning providing scrutiny by screech11 and shallow
political point scoring12. The function of PMQs is simply not functioning as its
intended to as it has become ritual, virtually meaningless, confrontation which
contributes much more heat than light to the process of holding the PM and his
government to account (and so the low point of the week rather than the
reverse)13 PMQs are vital in allowing Her Majestys Most Loyal Opposition to
fulfil their role of holding the government accountable to the electorate and
allow the electorate to be aware of the government-in-waiting.14 The personal
power resources for the prime minster is important just as it is for the
opposition. It shapes their image in the media and emphasises how the state of
politics is experiencing a rise of personality politics.

11Bercow, J. (2010) Speech to the Centre for Parliamentary Studies, accessed at www
.johnbercow.co.uk on 15 September 2010.
12
Bates, S. et al (2014) 'Questions to the Prime Minister: A Comparative Study of PMQs
from Thatcher to Cameron,' Parliamentary Affairs, 67(2): pp 253
Thomas, G. P. (2006) United Kingdom: The Prime Minister and Parliament. In Baldwin,
13

N. D. J. (ed.)
14
Bale, T. (2015) If Opposition is an Art, is Ed Miliband an Artist? A Framework of
Evaluating Leaders of the Opposition, Parliamentary Affairs, 68(1): 58-76
Jeremy Corbyn is characterised as a weak leader of the opposition 15 by his own
party which is evident with the vote of no confidence16 and the media which
severely undermines his personal power resources. His reputation and lack of
anticipated success with the electorate shows his low level of power resources
as leader. Having a weak leader of the opposition further strengthens the prime
ministers pre-eminence as their level of accountability is weakened in
exchange for petty party point scoring instead of answering to scrutiny; which
was performed by Camerons personal attack to Cameron to put on a proper
suit, do up your tie17 Corbyns strategy in PMQs has been to incorporate
questions from members of the public introducing a sort of peoples PMQs
which critics argue is not effective.18 However this is a point that I disagree with
as the concept of the people PMQs provides the opportunity for the electorate to
engage in a level of accountability that is not just participating in elections. It
provides a voice and tries to alleviate the alienation that a vast majority have
come to experience with PMQs and to allow MPs to gain an insight into how
governmental policies are affecting the people. Although Corbyn is
characterised as weak leader and this shows to elevate the pre-eminence of the
prime minster; I concur that Corbyns image and style of politics is one that
deviates from what the people are used to interacting with and thus it has been
easier for the government and media to tarnish him as the image of a radical
political outsider. The institutional power resource of the media has been a
great tool to utilise as a show weaken the opposition and this is evidence of how
personal power resources combined with institutional power resources can be a
great play in the politics of pre-eminence.

In conclusion, this essay examined the role of the institutional power resources
during the term of Tony Blair to demonstrate how it was utilised within policy
areas such as Iraq. The close circle cabinet meetings were a display of pre-
eminence and engaging in an inner circle without consulting the rest of the
government. The role of the media also significantly emphasises how it can be a

15
MacLellan, K. (2017). UK's opposition Labour 'too weak' to win an election: think tank.
Reuters. [online] Available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-politics-labour-
idUSKBN14N0WN [Accessed 9 Mar. 2017].
16
BBC News, (2016). Labour MPs pass no-confidence motion in Jeremy Corbyn. [online]
Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36647458 [Accessed 9 Mar. 2017].
17
Watt, N. (2016). David Cameron launches personal attack on Jeremy Corbyn's appearance.
The Guardian. [online] Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/feb/24/david-cameron-launches-personal-attack-
on-jeremy-corbyns-appearance [Accessed 9 Mar. 2017].
18
Pickard, J. (2015). Jeremy Corbyn debuts his new style of peoples PMQs. Financial
Times. [online] Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/c599a046-5c67-11e5-9846-
de406ccb37f2 [Accessed 9 Mar. 2017].
resource to manipulate the narrative in the favour of the prime minister. These
resources combined has brought me to the conclusion of the importance of
personalisation and centralisation within politics. As all prime ministers, will
have institutional power resources however it is those who effectively couple it
with personal power resources who prove more successful at being pre-eminent.
Blair, strengthened his image in the media as prime minster and ushered in a
modern time of politics where his term was viewed as powerful to even
characterise him as a president. However, as Brown goes on to demonstrate,
the media will also be ready to sacrifice a weak prime minister therefore the
institutional power resources can also be a source of weakness for the prime
minister. The failure of PMQs and a weak opposition is a further boost to the
pre-eminence of the prime minister as they can usher in policy areas and with
the aid of the media to seem stronger to the people. If pre-eminence was to be
lessened, then the rowdy nature of PMQs needs an institutional and cultural
change.
As Blair remarked to being a prime minster you begin at your most
popular and least capable, and you end at your least popular and most
capable.19 This statement rounds off the notion of institutional
powers as the mistakes and evidence of how a prime minister uses
these resources is how we determine whether they were pre-eminent
in government. Thus, it is not about how strong or weak prime
ministers are within their government but rather how they empower
their personal resources to boost their predominance and raise the
levels of their pre-eminence.

Word Count 2094

19
Blair, T. (2012) Transcript of Evidence to Leveson Enquiry, accessed at http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Transcript-of-
Morning-Hearing-28-May-2012.pdf on 5 August 2012.
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