ABSTRACT

By the late nineteenth century cabinet was the most senior 'committee' in government: it comprised all the major portfolios and took all the major decisions. Cabinets have varied in size over the years but usually comprise up to two dozen ministers. The cabinet secretary heads up the Cabinet Office and is in effect the most important civil servant, being officially its head. The role of prime minister is not defined by any written UK constitution, two incumbents in particular extended the limits of prime ministerial power, in the persons of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, and they have left a permanent legacy. Geoffrey Howe was made deputy prime minister (DPM) in 1989, though Thatcher scarcely bothered to acknowledge that any power was being deputised. John Prescott was Blair's DPM, in his case providing a vital link between the more right-wing 'New Labour' leadership and the left-leaning ranks of the trade unions.