Evaluate the view that ministerial responsibility no longer effectively holds the executive to account in the UK.
Format. Click a card to flip and see the answer on the back. Use these to drill named cases, dates, statutes and key concepts.
12 cards
Individual Ministerial Responsibility (IMR)
Each minister is responsible to Parliament for their personal conduct and for the work of their department. Classic sanction: resignation.
Click to flip
Collective Ministerial Responsibility (CMR)
All ministers must publicly support government decisions or resign. Keeps Cabinet government coherent in public.
Click to flip
Priti Patel (case)
2020 - Cabinet Office found she had bullied civil servants in breach of the Code. Boris Johnson kept her in post. Adviser Sir Alex Allan resigned in protest.
Click to flip
Suella Braverman (case)
Resigned as Home Secretary Oct 2022 over security breach. Re-appointed within 6 days. Fired by Sunak Nov 2023 over an unauthorised article.
Click to flip
Liz Truss + Kwasi Kwarteng (case)
Sept-Oct 2022. Mini-budget bypassed Cabinet and OBR. Kwarteng sacked after weeks. CMR was not engaged, then the Chancellor was sacked.
Click to flip
Gavin Williamson (case)
Lost Education Secretary role 2021 (exams algorithm). Returned under Sunak 2022. Resigned again over bullying allegations.
Click to flip
Angela Rayner (case)
Resigned as Deputy Prime Minister and party leader in autumn 2025 over a tax dispute. A serving Deputy PM resignation is rare.
Click to flip
CMR suspensions
Cameron suspended CMR for the 2016 EU referendum so ministers could campaign on both sides. May suspended it on Brexit votes in March 2019.
Click to flip
Ministerial Code
Sets the standards for ministerial conduct. Enforced by the Prime Minister, not by Parliament. PM decides whether to investigate, accept findings, and impose sanctions.
Click to flip
Independent adviser on ministerial interests
Investigates alleged Code breaches at PM's request. Sir Alex Allan resigned 2020 over Patel. Sir Christopher Geidt resigned 2022 over Johnson. Sir Laurie Magnus appointed late 2022.
Click to flip
Why is IMR considered politically rather than constitutionally enforced?
The doctrine exists in convention only. There is no legal mechanism to remove a minister. The PM decides whether the doctrine bites.
Click to flip
Strongest AO3 line for "no longer effective"
Both doctrines now describe a set of conventions enforced selectively by the executive against itself. When the PM wants accountability, ministers fall. When the PM does not, they survive.