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- Title
The Limits to Prime Ministerial Autonomy: Cameron and the Constraints of Coalition.
- Authors
Bennister, Mark; Heffernan, Richard
- Abstract
In heading up a coalition David Cameron has had to confront two unusual constraints that prevent him from being a dominant prime minister. The first constraint, something unfamiliar to previous prime ministers, is his having to work with and through a coalition partner firmly placed to the Conservatives' left. The second constraint, equally problematic but more familiar, is that Cameron has faced a restive Conservative parliamentary party in which a sizable minority of Tory MPs remained unreconciled to his political agenda. These two interrelated constraints mean Cameron has lacked the freedom of manoeuvre enjoyed by most past prime ministers. Two aspects of Cameron's premiership help cast light on his predicament: first, his relations with Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats and second, the nature of his dependency upon Conservative MPs. We look at these in turn and conclude by assessing Cameron's effectiveness as prime minister.
- Subjects
UNITED Kingdom; MINISTERIAL responsibility; CAMERON, David, 1966-; BRITISH prime ministers; BRITISH politics &; government, 2007-; COALITION governments; CONSERVATIVE Party (Great Britain); CLEGG, Nick, 1967-; LIBERAL Democrats (Great Britain)
- Publication
Parliamentary Affairs, 2015, Vol 68, Issue 1, p25
- ISSN
0031-2290
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/pa/gsu013