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'The government controls parliament but it cannot always rely on getting its own way.' Explain this with reference to the House of Commons.
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February 2003 Alfie Stroud 12Gore 'The government controls parliament but it cannot always rely on getting its own way.' Explain this with reference to the House of Commons. A tendency to ignore the protestations and activities of parliament in issuing central, top-down directives and 'memos' is a criticism often levied at Tony Blair's Labour administration. It is seen to signify a consolidation of executive power, often represented in the media as control-freakery on the part of the Prime Minister. Although any apparent increase in the power of the executive would be accentuated by the immense size of the 179 seat Labour majority, the present government is widely seen to have taken up a continuing trend towards centralised government, often revolving around Downing Street. It is perhaps largely the power of Blair's mandate in conjunction with the vice-like control of the party whips over MPs that has led to comments such as that of...
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