No, it is not a piece of furniture; the Cabinet is a group of ministers who work alongside the prime minister and provide administrative assistance in delivering policies. It is important that you understand the features and roles of the cabinet to understand the ruling process of political matters within the UK.
What is the UK Cabinet?
In the UK, the executive branch of government is the body that governs the country as well as creates and enforces laws. This executive consists of both the Prime Minister (PM) and the Cabinet. In contrast to popular belief, the Prime Minister is not a lone executive but rather the head of their Cabinet.
Fig. 1 - Boris Johnson having the first meeting with his cabinet
The Cabinet is a group of top ministers within the UK who each have a department and meet collectively and in smaller committees to ensure all areas are represented in critical decisions. They are chosen and appointed by the Prime Minister so that they can lead in specific policy areas such as healthcare and education.
Ministerial responsibility is a principle relevant to the cabinet. Its purpose is to ensure that every minister within the government works collectively, allowing the government to work as one 'entity'. This way, each minister can be held accountable by Parliament, allowing for a team-like form to occur. It is a principle that is considered by all ministers within Cabinet so that they make sure that they are working collectively.
Check out this article on The Executive in the UK for the big picture on the UK executive branch.
The UK Cabinet Members
The UK Cabinet is made up of around 20 Members of Parliament, both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, which are appointed and dismissed by the Prime Minister. There are four main areas that the Prime Minister will use to decide on these positions. There are:
Expertise and ability - Candidates with expertise in the specific field, are usually front-runners for Cabinet positions; however, candidates without expertise who can communicate and organise effectively are sometimes chosen.
Cementing authority - The Prime Minister may select Cabinet ministers to cement their authority and leadership. For example, this may include selecting their own Cabinet instead of retaining the Cabinet members from a previous Prime Minister.
Rewarding loyalty - Cabinet ministers are also often selected based on loyalty. For example, appointing those who acted as allies to the Prime Minster in their campaign for leadership.
Potential to become a rival - The Prime Minster may choose Cabinet members from among members of their party who had initially opposed the PM's leadership bid. This can prevent these members from becoming rivals and gain their loyalty.
The party that holds the second-largest majority of seats in Parliament have a political cabinet of their own; this is called a Shadow Cabinet. In the Shadow Cabinet, all the departments and positions that the Cabinet have are included in the shadow except with ‘shadow’ in front of the title. The current Shadow Cabinet is a Labour Cabinet. Shadow Cabinets help hold the government account in all policy areas, and shadow ministers also act as spokespeople for their parties in their respective policy areas.
The UK Cabinet 2022
This section will look at who is currently sitting on the UK Cabinet, as of November 2022. Rishi Sunak became the leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister after Liz Truss' resignation in October of 2019. Sunak hand-selected the ministers of his Cabinet, which are currently as follows:
Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for Civil Service, Minister for the Union
Dominic Raab - Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Jeremy Hunt - Chancellor of the Exchequer
James Cleverly - Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
Suella Braverman - Secretary of State for the Home Department
Ben Wallace - Secretary of State for Defence
Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Michael Gove - Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities; Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council, Leader of the House of Commons
Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords, Lord Privy Seal
Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Thérèse Coffey - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Kemi Badenoch - Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade
Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
Mark Haper - Secretary of State for Transport
Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Nadhim Zahawi - Minister Without Portfolio
Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Alister Jack - Secretary of State for Scotland
David TC Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
All members of Cabinet right now are MPs except for the leader of the House of Lords.
The UK Cabinet Functions
The three primary functions that the UK Cabinet plays are decision-making, proposing legislation, and proposing the budget.
One of the primary functions of the UK Cabinet is making policy decisions. Most concerns that the Cabinet discusses can be rectified by implementing or changing policies held within the different governmental departments. Therefore, a lot of their work can be seen in the official changing of policies within the government. This can be important in setting a 'vision' that the Cabinet has for the country and real-world implications. Many of these policy decisions are made in committees. They can help make decisions in small groups selected to work on specific areas of concern.
In 2010, the Cabinet decided to introduce the Universal Credit system, which meant that there was only one benefit for working-age households instead of six and simplified the UK welfare system.
Although the cabinet doesn't pass legislation itself, it can propose legislation. They would do this by creating a bill including the new proposed law and then passing it on to Parliament to be considered. While the Cabinet is not the only body that can propose legislation, the majority of legislation that Parliament passes is proposed by the Cabinet.
The UK Cabinet also drafts and proposes the budget, which decides on taxation and public spending. The Exchequer, a vital Cabinet minister, drafts the budget with the PM and then reveals it to the rest of the Cabinet. Once finalised, the Exchequer presents the budget to the House of Commons, where MPs debate and amend it and, once agreed, pass it as a Finance Bill.
UK Cabinet Powers
The UK Cabinet holds a variety of important powers. These are royal prerogatives, initiating primary legislation and creating secondary legislation.
The main powers held by the Cabinet are royal prerogative powers. This princ allows the Cabinet ministers to hold powers that were historically only held by the sovereign.
The prerogative powers of the Cabinet are not very formally defined, but some of the more important ones are the power to declare war, sign treaties, and act in an emergency to maintain order.
Another power given to the ministers and Cabinet as a whole is that of their ability to initiate legislation. The powers of initiating legislation refer to the Cabinet being able to propose new legislation and putting it to parliament to undergo the passage of a bill. As the Cabinet is a body within the executive, they have priority to push for their legislation to be initiated quickly.
Even though the Cabinet has this power, the House of Commons can still veto the proposed legislation.
The Cabinet also has the power to create secondary legislation. This power is used to add more detail and update primary legislation to reflect current affairs. As such, Primary legislation is legislation passed by parliament that is made into an Act of Parliament, and secondary legislation is when Cabinet makes small changes to these acts.
For example, suppose there was an act passed in 1970 about energy. In that case, the Cabinet may use its secondary legislative powers to ensure this act now covers new information about energy, such as emerging renewable energy sources.
The UK Cabinet Background
In today's political world, the UK Cabinet is one of the most authoritative bodies within government, but how did the Cabinet as we know it today evolve? Well, the position of Prime Minister was formally introduced in the 1937 Ministers of the Crown Act which also introduced the ability of the Prime Minister to select ministers to sit in Cabinet with him. But, the idea of Cabinet ministers has been around for a little longer.
Fig. 2 - Cabinet office, Whitehall, London
The earliest form of the UK Cabinet was the Privy Council in the 12th Century which advised the monarch. This council changed over time; it got larger and dealt with more administrative matters. The modern Cabinet has its roots in the 17th and 18th centuries when a smaller, more informal committee of advisors to the monarch gained importance.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the functions of this committee were developed and defined, but it wasn't until the 20th Century that this became what it is today. In 1919, the War Cabinet Secretariat was created; this effectively replaced the old informal Cabinet with a formal body that had authoritative power and policies which informed the Cabinets to follow.
The UK Cabinet - Key Takeaways
The UK Cabinet is part of the executive branch of government led by the Prime Minister.
The Cabinet comprises twenty or more ministers appointed by the Prime Minister.
The functions of the UK Cabinet include decision-making, proposing legislation, and proposing the budget.
The powers of the UK Cabinet include powers of royal prerogative, initiating legislation, and creating secondary legislation.
The history of the UK Cabinet dates back to the 12th Century and the body has gained more power, formality, and created policies over time.
References
- Fig. 1 - Boris Johnson and his cabinet during a meeting (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johnson%27s_1st_cabinet_meeting.jpg) by UK Prime Minister (https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet) licenced by OGL v3.0 (https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/)
- Fig. 2 - Cabinet, Office Whitehall, London (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cabinet_Office,_Whitehall,_London,_UK_-_20130629-02.jpg) by Smuconlaw (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Sgconlaw) licensed by CC-BY-SA-3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)
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