The Prime Minister’s relations with individual departmental ministers

All participants in the political system expect the Prime Minister to intervene extensively in departmental policy matters. This is no mere statement of the obvious: the autonomy of individual ministers is stronger in the UK than in most countries, and in certain countries-notably Italy and The Netherlandsthe premier’s authority for such interventions is minimal (Hine and Finocci 1991; Andeweg 1988).