Diritto Pubblico Comparato ed Europeo

Sommario

1. Introduzione. – 2. Nomina e revoca dei Ministri, e meccanismi del rimpasto di Governo. – 3. Dal patronage classico alla nuova leadership. – 4. Direzione e controllo del Gabinetto. – 5. Concertazione e policymaking nell’apparato dei Cabinet Committees. – 6. Il core executive e la struttura del Gabinetto. – 7. I “roundheads” di Tony Blair. – 8. Vecchi e nuovi dicasteri settoriali. – 9. I Dipartimenti territoriali alla prova della devolution. – 10. Conclusioni.

Abstract

Some recent developments, both in the structure and the functionality of Her Majesty’s Cabinet, have focused our attention on the fact that, although nothing has apparently changed in the «handbook» shape of the parliamentary-based executive, the recent pattern of governmental attitudes in Britain has been actually transformed by the increase of the Prime Minister’s political leadership in the party and personal guidance in Whitehall. On this ground we can point out the most apparent link between the Thatcher – and the Blair-styled premierships. In fact the emphasization of the conventional powers and of the political appeal of the premiership was a basic factor of governance in the Thatcher age and it is still so today, under the New Labour rule, Blair’s appeal being not so different from the «iron Lady»’s one. A new light is anyway thrown upon the post-Victorian conventional powers of the Prime Minister, like the patronage power, the appointment and dismissal of Cabinet ministers, the reshuffle and the basic shaping of the Cabinet structure, the use of Cabinet Committees, the dissolution of Parliament, etc. A survey of the actual structure of the British Cabinet following the reshuffle of June 2001, finally focuses the reader’s attention upon the connections and differences existing between the idea of Cabinet government under Tony Blair’s rule and Mrs Thatcher’s one, and may help us to realize how far the actual design of Cabinet really reflects the personal commitment of the leadership in national policy-making. But a basic, although unwritten, constitutional rule, coming from the classic thought, cannot be ignored while speaking about the New Labour interpretation of the role of the executive. According to it, the Prime Ministerial power and the parliamentary government, with the Cabinet in the middle, are essential to each other, and any overcoming weakness in the role of the Parliament shall turn, sooner or later, into a boomerang on the field of political premiership, and weaken the executive as well.