GIULIA CARAVALE

Il Primo Ministro nel recente dibattito della dottrina inglese

N. 165

Summary — First of all the author briefly examines the evolution of the British form of government since the XVIII century, and, in particular, the evolution of Prime Minister and Cabinet’s powers and their relations with the prerogatives of the Crown. Then the attention is addressed to the doctrinal debate of 50s 70s on the transformation of the British form of government from a Cabinet government to a Prime Ministerial one, especially after the publication either of the Mackintosh’s book, The British Cabinet, or of the Crossmann’s Introduction, to the new edition of Bagehot’s English Constitution. Both of them asserted that British Prime Ministers have come to dominate the Cabinet because of their power to control over the Cabinet agenda and structure. Afterwards the author closely examines the innovations and the changes introduced by the Conservative governments lead by Mrs Thatcher since 1979, which were distinguished by a strong Premier superiority on the Cabinet, and the 80s doctrine. From this analysis comes out that the Prime Ministerial government is not yet affirmed and because of its elasticity the English system is able to adapt itself to the present political reality through a re-definition of the balance of powers among the constitutional organs. So that it can still be said, as Mackintosh remarked, that "there is no single catchphrase which can describe this form of government".