Prime Minister and Cabinet

Abstract

The number of Ministerial posts has risen remarkably since the First World War. Including the Ministers of State, Under-Secretaries, Parliamentary Secretaries, and other lesser posts the total is little short of one hundred. The holders of these offices are nominated by the Prime Minister, who also nominates the Cabinet. There will normally be some twenty members in the Cabinet, though in war-time urgency of decision makes necessary a smaller number. Winston Churchill’s war Cabinet consisted of a maximum number of nine members, for instance. In peace-time the size of the Cabinet has usually varied little during the century. Lord Salisbury’s Government at the beginning of the century had a Cabinet of twenty as did Mr. Attlee’s Government at first in 1945. This tendency for most Prime Ministers to appoint Cabinets of virtually the same size suggests that there are certain basic considerations to be observed irrespective of the differing qualities of individual Prime Ministers.

Membership of the Cabinet. The responsibilities of the Prime Minister The choice of Ministers. Organisation of duties. The relationship of the Prime Minister to the Cabinet, the Crown, Parliament, his party, the Civil Service, and to the community. The burden of Ministerial work. The idea of a small Cabinet.

THEME: The pressure of governmental work in modern times; its influence on the Prime Minister’s position and on Cabinet organisation.