Politics Panther · Paper 2 · Prime Minister and Executive

Power of the Prime Minister · Overview

The seven factors that explain why some PMs dominate and others do not.

1. Spec sections this topic covers

Topic on the spec3 · sourced from Edexcel A-Level Politics 9PL0

Its structure, including Prime Minister, the Cabinet, junior ministers and government departments.
Its main roles, including proposing legislation, proposing a budget, and making policy decisions within laws and budget.
The main powers of the Executive, including Royal Prerogative powers, initiation of legislation and secondary legislative power.

The factors governing the Prime Minister's selection of ministers.
The factors that affect the relationship between the Cabinet and the Prime Minister, and the ways they have changed, and the balance of power between the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.

Students must study the influence of one Prime Minister from 1945 to 1997 and one post-1997 Prime Minister.
Students may choose any pre-1997 and any post-1997 Prime Minister, provided that they study them in an equivalent level of detail, covering both events and policy, with examples that illustrate both control and a lack of control.

Seven-factor framework: Majority, Mandate, Media, Big Beasts, Party Control, Opposition, Events.
Five PMs to know in detail since Thatcher: Thatcher, Blair, Johnson, Sunak, Starmer (plus Brown, Cameron, May, Truss, Liz where relevant).
Constitutional powers: patronage (cabinet appointments, peerages, honours), prerogative (treaties, military deployment, dissolution since FTPA repeal), agenda control, party leader.
Constraints: cabinet (collective responsibility), Parliament (especially when majority is thin), party (1922 Committee for Cons; PLP NEC for Lab), media, judiciary (Miller cases), events.
Key cases: Brown 2007-10 (squandered majority), May 2017-19 (lost majority + lost three meaningful votes), Johnson 2022 fall (Pincher / partygate / by-elections), Truss 2022 (mini-budget, 49 days), 2025 Q2b examiner themes.

Q2b every year tests "PM power" or "PM dominance" - pick a side and use the seven factors as your themes.
The strongest essays compare AT LEAST TWO PMs across the same factor - not biography of one PM.
AO3 framing: power vs personality; structural vs contingent; Foley spatial leadership vs traditional cabinet-collective model.

Drawn from the Panther question bank. The Notes page in this pack covers the content needed to answer these.

Year	QID	Question
2025	P2-2025-Q2b	Evaluate the view that Prime Ministers now have too much power.
2024	P2-2024-Q2b	Evaluate the view that the government's control of the House of Commons has weakened in recent years.
2023	P2-2023-Q1b	Using the source, evaluate the view that power lies mainly with the Prime Minister rather than Cabinet.
2023 Mock	P2-2023M-Q1b	Using the source, evaluate the view that individual and collective ministerial responsibility are too weak to ensure effective accountability.
2022	P2-2022-Q2b	Evaluate the view that the concepts of individual ministerial responsibility and collective ministerial responsibility are both still important.
2021	P2-2021-Q2b	Evaluate the view that since 2010 the executive has dominated Parliament.
2020	P2-2020-Q2b	Evaluate the view that since 2010 the UK has seen a return to cabinet government.
2019	P2-2019-Q1b	Using the source, evaluate the view that Prime Ministers have too much power.