Page 167 - DPOL202_COMPARATIVE_POLITICS_AND_GOVERNMENT_ENGLISH

Comparative Politics and Government

Notes 7. The Prime Minister is the channel of communication between the Crown and the ministers. If
the king wants to know anything about Cabinet’s policy, the Prime Minister passes necessary
information to him. So the ministers meet the monarch with Prime Minister’s approval. There
can be no communication between the monarch and the ministers without the consent of the
Prime Minister.
8. The Prime Minister is the link between the Parliament and the ministers. He is the leader of the
House of Commons though sometimes he may transmit some of his powers to his most trusted
deputy. This privileged position makes his authority above that of his colleagues. In consultation
with his Cabinet ministers, he decides the time of the session of the Parliament, prepares
inaugural address of the monarch, decides about the time of adjournment and prorogation of
the Parliament. He asks his ministers to move a bill in the Parliament, put some resolution for
approval, and present budget or money bill after securing formal recommendation of the
monarch. He also instructs his party whips to maintain discipline in the ranks of the party.
9. The Prime Minister performs many important function in the international sphere. Either
personally or through his nominees he attends conferences of the Commonwealth of Nations
and the United Nations. The presence of the British Prime Minister or his nominee at international
gatherings is seen with special significance. It is the Prime Minister who makes authoritative
pronouncements of his government’s policy in international matters. Prosecution of war,
mobilization of troops, conclusion of peace, negotiation of treaties etc. all demand expression of
approval from the statements of the Prime Minister.
10. The Prime Minister is the leader of the nation. During days of national crisis, if time does not
allow him to take his ministers in confidence, he may personally act or give immediate authority
to his ministers to do the needful for facing a serious problem.
Position: It is obvious that the Prime Minister occupies a position of unmistakable supremacy in the
constitutional structure of England. Lord Morley has called him primus inter pares meaning ‘first
among equals.’ This observation is based on the view that the Prime Minister is like the captain of his
team without any special power making him a master, if not the boss, of his colleagues. While all the
members of the Cabinet stand on a footing of equality, speak with equal voice, and (excluding some
rare occasions) are counted on the fraternal principle of one man one vote, the Prime Minister being
head of the team enjoys no special position save that of being ‘first among the equals’. Another view
is given by Sir William Vernon Harcourt that the Prime Minister is ‘a moon among lesser stars’. This
phrase seems to recognize a lower position of the ministers as compared with that of the head. A
moon among the lesser stars certainly has a higher position, but Harcourt corrects his real interpretation
by adding that even this ‘may not really be strong enough’.
If the classical aphorisms given by Morley and Harcourt need revision in the light of latest
developments, the observation of Ramsay Muir also goes beyond the limit of plausibility. The English
Prime Minister is neither a mere first among equals, nor can he be identified with a dictator. The fact
is that he is a democratic leader of a democratic government working with the support of his democratic
party. In the event of his wise handling of the situation he may win the support of all parties as
Churchill had during the Second World War; on the other hand, by losing the confidence of his party
or people, he may be ‘dethroned’ like Ramsay Maonald and Neville Chamberlain. He is, indeed, both
a captain and a man at the helm. The dominant fact about the position of the Prime Minister “is that
he must operate flexibly within the Parliamentary and Cabinet system in which power is distributed
and which gives the Prime Minister as much command over the political situation as he can earn.”
What lends weight to the observation that the English Prime Minister has become like a President or
even a dictator draws sustenance from these following points: In the first place, the Prime Minister
has become the deputy of the nation as a whole irrespective of the fact that he is chosen by a particular
constituency. A general election is now an election of the Prime Minister. Second, a Prime Minister
banking upon the force of electoral mandate feels amply free in the selection of his colleagues. He
comes to have a strong position whereby he effectively controls his party without being restrained by
it in a like manner. Important leaders of the party move around his table for the collection of ministerial
awards. Third, the power of patronage has now enabled the Prime Minister to act as the master not

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