What do ministers do?
Prime ministers have sought to bolster the numbers by appointing unpaid ministers and platoons of parliamentary private secretaries. Currently, 141 MPs, 22 per cent of the total, hold some sort of...
View ArticleFor how long should ministers be in place?
A near universal complaint of former and current ministers and civil servants interviewed for the Institute’s new report The Challenge of Being a Minister is about the damaging effects of over-frequent...
View ArticleWhy special advisers are more than cabinet apprentices
In the foreword of The Challenge of Being a Minister, the Institute for Government’s Director Andrew Adonis perhaps goes against the grain of the perceived commentariat wisdom. He argues that his own...
View ArticleJohn Major on the Union and the future of politics
First he in effect called for a “devolution max” offer to be made to Scotland, and then for a straight “in or out” referendum to be held upon it. By “devolution max”, Major includes full fiscal...
View ArticleWho leads what?
This is not so much whether the riots and their aftermath have been the biggest test the Prime Minister has faced since coming to office, which seems to be the view of most commentators, but rather...
View ArticleTime to reinvent the role of ministers
Transformation, the post-bureaucratic state, the Big Society – whichever title you use, a big rethink is now under way about how central Government operates. However, the soul-searching that is now...
View ArticleHouse of Lords reform and ministers
While most ministers are currently members of the House of Commons, around a fifth come from the upper house. These Lords ministers can be put into two distinct categories: those drawn from a party’s...
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