Is the Cabinet still important?
:check: Cabinet discusses the government's general strategy and goals
:check: in some cases, the Cabinet makes key decisions. E.g., whether to hold an election in 2017
:check: some Cabinet ministers in charge of large departments are powerful in their own right. E.g., such as the Chancellor of the Exchequer
:check: no PM can survive without Cabinet support, and in some circumstances, Cabinets can exert a lot of influence. E.g., May's Cabinet decided on the type of Brexit to have
:check: the Cabinet can overrule the PM or even remove them. E.g., Thatcher's Cabinet famously aided her departure.
:check: the Cabinet is the only effective place where disputes between ministers can be dealt with out of the public eye.
:check: under the coalition, the Cabinet is much more significant
:check: under coalition, the Cabinet reconciles the differences between coalition partners
:red_cross: the PM has significant powers of patronage over the Cabinet.
:red_cross: PMs rely less on their Cabinet for policy advice, preferring to use speicial advisers.
:red_cross: collective responsibility gives PMs power to silence dissenters in the Cabinet.
:red_cross: the Cabinet meets for less time now and tends to rubber stamp decisions made elsewhere.
:red_cross: PMs control the workings of the Cabinet by shaping the Cabinet's agenda as well as chairing meetings.
:red_cross: PMs decide the number and nature of Cabinet committees.
:red_cross: the growth of Cabinet committees is seen as a way for the PM to bypass the Cabinet as a form of 'inner Cabinet'.
:red_cross: a Cabinet united behing its PM gives a PM enourmous power