Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ttngx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-06T00:11:44.627Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Blair Government and the Core Executive

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Martin Burch  and
Ian Holliday
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The article contests the view that the Blair government has presided over the demise of cabinet government in the UK, and the rise of a kind of British presidentialism. By examining changes made at the very heart of government, chiefly in the Prime Minister's and Cabinet Offices, it argues that change under Labour marks the latest stage in the evolution of Britain's still functioning system of cabinet government. Moreover, recent reforms, like so many before, have been partly prompted by deep-seated administrative factors that have helped to shape the core executive for close to a century. Nevertheless, the article concedes that the Blair reforms do reflect an acceleration of pre-existing trends, with the result that the executive arm of government has been substantially enhanced. This has led to some change in the balance of power both within the core executive and across central government more widely.

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , 2004 , pp. 1 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2004.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

2 Foley, M., The British Presidency: Tony Blair and the Politics of Public Leadership, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2000.Google Scholar

3 Burch, M. and Holliday, I., The British Cabinet System, London, Prentice Hall/ Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1996, chs 1 and 2.Google Scholar

4 Naughtie, J., The Rivals: The Intimate Story of a Political Marriage, London, Fourth Estate, 2001 Google Scholar.

5 Burch, M. and Holliday, I., ‘The Prime Minister's and Cabinet Offices: An Executive Office in All But Name’, Parliamentary Affairs, 52 (1999), pp. 32–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6 Dunleavy, P. and Rhodes, R. A. W., ‘Core Executive Studies in Britain’, Public Administration, 68 (1990), pp. 3–28;CrossRefGoogle Scholar Rhodes, R. A. W. and Dunleavy, P. (eds), Prime Minister, Cabinet and Core Executive, London, Macmillan, 1995 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Smith, M., The Core Executive in Britain, London, Macmillan, 1999.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

7 Burch and Holliday, British Cabinet System, op. cit., p. 1.

8 Wakeham, J., ‘Cabinet Government’, Contemporary Record, 8 (1994), pp. 473–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

9 For a detailed analysis of the changing nature of the core executive since 1916, and the cumulative nature of its development, see Burch and Holliday, British Cabinet System, op. cit., chs 1–5.

10 Kavanagh, D. and Seldon, A., The Powers Behind the Prime Minister: The Hidden Influence of Number Ten, London, HarperCollins, 1999, p. 13 Google Scholar; Kavanagh, D., ‘New Labour, New Millennium, New Premiership’, in Seldon, A. (ed.), The Blair Effect: The Blair Government 1997–2001, London, Little, Brown, 2001 Google Scholar.

11 Burch and Holliday, British Cabinet System, op. cit., ch. 5.

12 Rawnsley, A., Servants of the People: The Inside Story of New Labour, London, Penguin, 2001 Google Scholar.

13 Bulmer, S., Burch, M., Carter, C., Hogwood, P. and Scott, A., British Devolution and European Policy Making: Transforming Britain into Multi-Level Governance, London, Palgrave, 2002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14 Burch and Holliday, British Cabinet System, op. cit., pp. 56–60.

15 Burch and Holliday, ‘The Prime Minister's and Cabinet Offices’, op. cit.

16 Deakin, N. and Parry, R., The Treasury and Social Policy: The Contest for Control of Welfare Strategy, Basingstoke, Macmillan, 2000 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

17 Sir Andrew Turnbull, ‘Reform and Delivery in the Civil Service’, London, Cabinet Office, 2002. Accessed 23 December 2002 at www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/2002/news/020624_ newciv.html.

18 The figures come from the Cabinet Office. See also Kavanagh, ‘New Labour, New Millennium’, op. cit., p. 13, which has a figure of 200 PMO staff for 2000.

19 Blair, A., Prime Minister's Speech on Public Service Reform, London, Prime Minister's Office, 2001. Accessed 23 December 2002 at www.pm.gov.uk/print/page3626.asp.Google Scholar

20 Peters, B. G., Rhodes, R. A. W. and Wright, V. (eds), Administering the Summit, London, Macmillan, 2000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

21 Naughtie, The Rivals, op. cit.

22 Hennessy, P., The Prime Minister: The Office and Its Holders since 1945, London, Allen Lane, 2000 Google Scholar; Heffernan, R., ‘Prime Ministerial Predominance? Core Executive Politics in the UK’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 5 (2003), pp. 347–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar