To be a Cabinet minister has many privileges. You are driven around in a luxury ministerial car, earn an increased salary than that of a backbench MP, receive a huge red box full of briefing papers to be signed, work with the most dedicated and intelligent civil servants in truly majestic Whitehall buildings. Whether a Cabinet minister, Minister of State or Parliamentary Under-Secretary, there is a chance to implement legislation that (hopefully) impacts people's lives in a progressive, positive way.
Being in the Cabinet, even the government more broadly, comes with responsibilities too. Individual ministerial responsibility requires that ministers are aware of the actions within their departments and are held accountable if they lie to Parliament or their department faces a scandal. That is vital to ensure ministers within jobs are not immune from scrutiny, with their fate determined by factors other than the respective Prime Minister's prerogative powers. The survival and unity of the government depends on more than individual competence however. For decades, government have relied on their ministers, in the Cabinet and outside, obeying collective responsibility. This involves backing the decision of the government and voting accordingly. Disputes are thrashed out in private before coming to an agreed position. By having that debate confidently away from the public, differences of views and ideas can be exhausted in the hope of reaching the best outcome. If a minister cannot in good conscience support the collective decision, they principally resign. This was one of the key factors that weakened Theresa May's government. Towards the end of its steady creak towards oblivion, leaks from the Cabinet had become the norm. Intolerance towards leaking would be leaked to the press, exposing the disagreements between difference factions in the former Cabinet. There was no chance of privacy. In votes, ministers would abstain when there was a three line government whip to vote for or against a motion and would face no consequences. The former Prime Minister was just to weak to sack individuals. Collective responsibility - that beacon of a united, competent government - that so important principle for our standing in the world had vanished, nowhere to be seen. Boris Johnson's premiership, for now at least, has restored collective responsibility. Granted, there was hardly any chance for dissent. Parliament went on its summer recess - where hardworking MPs will be assisting constituents - one day after he took office. There were no votes that needed to show unity. Yet he has gone beyond the traditional mantra of collective responsibility that requires an internal cabinet debate before reaching a collective position. If individuals want to take a place in his government, they have to commit to leaving the EU on October 31st, deal or no deal. This absolutism shows just how the political landscape has changed. Even if the UK simply required a few more weeks to ratify all the legislation for a new deal, October 31st has become the fixed date of departure. There is no flexibility whatsoever. Ministers who can't hack that simply won't be ministers. It is clear Mr Johnson is desperate to avoid ministerial resignations of the kind Mrs May faced whenever there was a crunch decision to make on Brexit. I was surprised to see that former remainers Matt Hancock, Amber Rudd and Nicky Morgan were within the Cabinet of this new Prime Minister. For what this ultimatum shows is that the Brexiteers are fully in charge of government. Those who advocated our departure from the Continent are now responsible for delivering it. In a strange sort of way, people should be pleased about this. One of Theresa May's weaknesses was being a remainer implementing Brexit. Many believed she show the whole process as a damage limitation exercise that had to be delivered on. This was evident in her infamous interview with LBC presenter Iain Dale, where she couldn't state whether she would vote Leave in a second referendum. Brexiteers were able to paint the Prime Minister as someone whose heart wasn't in it. When things went wrong, it was because of Theresa May's incompetence, they said, not because of Brexit itself. If only we believed in Britain in more, of any we had more optimism, if only a Brexiteer was in charge...oh wait. Now, this is the case. There are no more opportunities for Brexiteers to abdicate their responsibility for the policy they advocate. No longer can the chaos of the Brexit process be blamed on the failings of a remainer Prime Minister. In Boris Johnson they have someone who was at the heart of the Leave campaign. Indeed, his special adviser Dominic Cummings, so brilliant portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in James Graham's masterful Channel 4 Brexit drama, was the architect of the Vote Leave campaign. One of the criticisms of involving direct democracy in representative democracy was that the winning campaign of the referendum didn't enter office after their side was victorious. Well, three years on, they now have. They therefore must take responsibility. With all the powers of office, many of the present Cabinet ministers only recently on the backbenches, they can no longer despair at the government's attempts to implement Brexit. For they are the government. Nevertheless, despite the obvious duty the Brexiteers now have to the nation - this gridlock originated because of them, it now must be resolved by them - I remain pessimistic and believe that is it naive to assume that, following their coronation to Number 10 Downing Street, those who fought for Brexit will now allow themselves to be held accountable. There will always be some body, some other entity or person to blame. Many of the tabloids were this against the EU ever since the Maastricht Treaty, focusing on potentially excessive EU regulation to distract from the domestic failings of national governments (well documented in James O'Brien's debut novel). It is little surprise therefore that the government are already blaming the EU for the present intransigence. The top BBC headline this evening was Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove stating the EU were refusing to renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement. This was reinforced by an Observer article from Andrew Rawnsley last week stating that, despite the long summer ahead, there were no sign of talks reopening. What a perfect context for a no deal Brexit. If the EU were to refuse to negotiate, Boris Johnson could simply blame the catastrophe of exiting an organisation we have been a member of for 45 years with no transitional period on that organisation. Despite the undoubted economic hardship it would bring, and potential constitutional impact on the union, the government would be able to abdicate responsibility. And it must just work. The EU is already seen as the enemy. Why not paint them as the enemy again, the government may think. People may be willing to undergo the hardships of a no deal Brexit, if they think it means leaving the EU. Thus the role the Brexiteer government had to play in facilitating a no deal Brexit would, awfully, be null and void. Of course, along with the EU, I imagine the government are likely to weaponize Parliament as a 'Remainer Saboteur' institution that seeks to defy the people. While it is true that positions among MPs - and the public - have become far too entrenched, this propaganda would undermine the amount of power the executive has. Blaming the failure to deliver Brexit on a Remainer Parliament which refused to back any Withdrawal Agreement may go down well in the press, but it would be to simplify the Tory failings in both reaching a new deal and gathering a consensus at home to pass the deal. Pitting Parliament against the people didn't work for Theresa May in 2017. That election was not the Brexit election. I fear Boris Johnson could be more successful in a future election, which, according to medial speculation, could be on the imminent horizon. Civil servants are among the unsung heroes of public life. It is their duty to implement the wishes of the government across multiple departments all over the country, regardless of who happens to be in office. Just over three years ago, I spent a fortnight undertaking work experience at the local job centre. It was nothing but admirable and heartwarming to see the efforts of work coaches in trying to assist people who genuinely were desperate to attain employment. Despite this tenacity and dedication to the nation, the civil servants, the bureaucracy, call them what you will, have been subject to horrendous abuse, mainly from Brexiteers. Apparently, the civil service entrenched with Remainers. While I am yet to see any evidence proving this, it shouldn't matter were it to be the case. Civil servants must be impartial when it comes to their own views on a policy. It is their job to implement it, which is precisely what they have been attempting to do. Were Brexit to go wrong, there would be a massive loss of trust in the civil service if the government were to blame their failings on them. This would be unprecedented, yet I can still see this taking place. Language of that kind, which would pit the government and people against those who enact their policies, could help to initiate a revolution. Were that to happen, Brexit would be the most un-conservative policy ever to be enacted by a government. Every day counts with the Johnson administration. As has been stated repeatedly, he has built his premiership around departing the EU at Halloween. Failure to do that and a large proportion of the public will be fuming. The Brexit Party could end up replacing the Conservative Party as the party of the right. Yet the Tories, obsessed with electoral success, will do everything in their power to prevent that from happening. This means anyone else will take the burden of Brexit failure (whether that's a failure to implement or the disaster of no-deal). I don't look forward to the headlines, the relentless blame game that will ensue. Yet at least we can be prepared, have advanced warning for the upcoming spin machine Whenever you hear a government minister criticizing another body for the Brexit process grinding to a halt, look behind their soundbite. Instead, look at the real Brexit culprits: those who deny any responsibility over its failure.
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