Prime Minister and Cabinet - Blair, Brown and Cameron

I have just come across this article on the London School of Economics web-site. Although it dates from May 2010 it nicely compares the way that Blair and Brown ran their cabinets (they developed a quasi-Department of the PM and increased their control over the cabinet.

An ornate cabinet worth £64000.
Picture Credit: BBC

The article does speculate about the way that the coalition's cabinet is run, and mentions the use of official mechanisms to co-ordinate policy between two parties ("the Quad"). It is similar in some ways to Blair's "sofa government" with policy being made informally between the PM and individual ministers, but in some ways it is more formal as it is an official grouping which has equal representation and influence for both parties.

Interesting to note that the Treasury has 2 seats in the meeting (Osbourne and Alexander) with the PM and the Deputy PM being the other half. There are no representatives from spending depts.

Analysis by the Guardian can be found here and here is a blog post by the Conservative Home web-site.

Essential reading for anyone contemplating the cabinet and Prime Ministerial power for Unit 2.