Chapter 11

Instructions

Choose your answers from a-d by clicking the radio button next to each choice and then press 'Submit' to get your score.

Question 1

Which of the following post-war Prime Ministers has been alleged to be 'Bonapartist' and by which scholar?

a) Margaret Thatcher by Richard Heffernan

b) John Major by Rod Rhodes

c) Tony Blair by Peter Hennessy

d) Harold Wilson by Richard Crossman

Question 2

Which of the following is most closely associated with the argument that the British Prime Minister has become an increasingly 'presidential' figure in the British political system?

a) John Mackintosh

b) Michael Foley

c) Richard Rose

d) Martin Burch

Question 3

Which post-war Prime Minister is particularly associated with a preference for bi-lateral policy making?

a) Margaret Thatcher

b) James Callaghan

c) Edward Heath

d) Harold Wilson

Question 4

Choose the option which provides the most accurate completion of the following sentence: "
The 'core executive' is best defined as...

a) ..the Prime Minister and his or her advisers in No. 10 Downing Street."

b) ..the Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers."

c) …the Prime Minister, Cabinet, Cabinet Committees and other institutions and procedures which co-ordinate executive decision making."

d) …the Prime Minister and Cabinet colleagues and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish First Ministers and their colleagues in their respective executives."

Question 5

Richard Rose, makes which of the following arguments in relation to the British premiership?

a) Prime Ministerial power has grown in Whitehall but has diminished because of the devolution of power to Scotland and Wales

b) Britain now has a presidency in all but name, which should be acknowledged by codification of the Prime Minister's powers in legislation

c) The Prime Minister's power has grown in Whitehall but has diminished on the international stage

d) There is now a Prime Minister's department in all but name given the expansion of resources available to a Prime Minister in No.10 Downing Street

Question 6

Which of the following statements best identifies the circumstances of Margaret Thatcher's resignation as Prime Minister?

a) Margaret Thatcher resigned in November 1990 after failing to secure a victory in the first ballot of the Conservative Party leadership contest

b) Margaret Thatcher resigned in the immediate aftermath of the allegations raised in Nigel Lawson's resignation speech

c) Margaret Thatcher resigned after Sir Anthony Meyer defeated her in the first ballot of the Conservative Party leadership contest

d) Margaret Thatcher resigned in March 1990 in the immediate aftermath of the Poll Tax riots in Trafalgar Square

Question 7

The Latin phrase 'primus inter pares' conveys which of the following ideas?

a) The view that the Prime Minister is significantly constrained by the power exercised by other senior colleagues, particularly the Chancellor of the Exchequer

b) A relatively new way of understanding the Prime Minister seeing the Prime Minister at the centre of a shifting set of power relations spanning all central government institutions

c) The view that Prime Ministers are exceptional individuals who exercise significant charismatic authority over their governments

d) A traditional and relatively conventional view of Prime Ministerial power which identifies the Prime Minister as the most senior figure amongst a Cabinet of roughly equally powerful ministers

Question 8

Complete the following sentence: "The core executive model understands power as...

a) ...increasingly concentrated in No.10 Downing Street given the expansion of the staff supporting the Prime Minister."

b) ...a skill in defining political problems in such a way as to the advantage an actor or group of actors."

c) ...institutionally located within each department in Whitehall and derived from the legal powers and financial resources held by Secretaries of State."

d) ...a fluid and relational resource in which co-dependent actors exchange resources within a structured arena."

Question 9

Which of the following statements accurately describes an aspect of Margaret Thatcher's relationships within the core executive?

a) Margaret Thatcher set clear targets for departments and then closely monitored ministerial performance in reaching these targets

b) Margaret Thatcher was ideologically driven and unwilling to compromise her policy preferences

c) Margaret Thatcher managed dependency by relying on figures like Willie Whitelaw to act as conduits between her and the Cabinet

d) Margaret Thatcher relied heavily on Deputy Prime Ministers with 'Wet' credentials to preserve unity between competing visions of Conservatism

Question 10

Which of the following statements best summarises the argument advanced in this chapter?

a) Both 'Prime Ministerial government and 'Presidentialism' misconceive the Prime Minister's position in the executive and policy process because they have failed to collect appropriate evidence

b) Both 'Prime Ministerial government' and 'Presidentialism' misconceive the Prime Minister's position in the executive and policy process because they have based their findings on anecdotal and autobiographical evidence

c) Both 'Prime Ministerial government' and 'Presidentialism' misconceive the Prime Minister's position in the executive and policy process because they lack an appropriate understanding of power

d) Both 'Prime Ministerial government' and 'Presidentialism' misconceive the Prime Minister's position in the executive and policy process because they do not take sufficient account of personality and style as intervening variables

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Oxford University Press, Online Resource Centre, Chapter 11.

Chapter 11

Instructions

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Question 6

Question 7

Question 8

Question 9

Question 10