British Cabinet Ministers: The Roles of Politicians in Executive Office

First published in 1974, British Cabinet Ministers is about the opportunities and constraints of executive political office. It is mainly based on interviews with fifty contemporary British Ministers and twenty-five senior civil servants. Hitherto political observers have referred simply to strong and weak Ministers, which begs the question strong or weak at what? Here Ministers are classified into five typespolicy initiators, policy selectors, Executive and Ambassador Ministers, and Minimalistsdepending on their different approaches to their jobs.

The problems Ministers face in achieving their objectives are analysed and case studies are presented of the performance in office of different types of Ministers. In this context, we review the skills and abilities of politicians themselves and the range and quality of advice they can expect to receive in Whitehall. In the final section, the author considers the consequences for British government of the finding that Ministers are better qualified to perform some of their roles than others, and also indicates lines of inquiry that need to be further pursued by students of executive political leadership.