cabinet

cabinet The executive committee of the government, appointed by the prime minister. It evolved in the later 17th cent. out of the Privy Council, which had become too large. Two developments of crucial importance were the withdrawal of the monarch from attendance during George I's reign, allowing the first minister to take the chair and impose his views on his colleagues, and the growth of the principle of cabinet solidarity.

In the 18th cent., the cabinet was overwhelmingly aristocratic. George Grenville in the 1760s had a cabinet of nine, in which he was the only commoner—yet he was the younger brother of an earl. Not until the later 19th cent. did commoners predominate. Like most committees, the cabinet has tended to grow. The Fox–North coalition in 1783 had seven cabinet members; Peel in 1841 had fourteen; Salisbury in 1895 had nineteen; John Major in July 1995 had 23.

In Bagehot's words, the cabinet links the legislative part of the state to the executive. Its members are normally drawn from the majority party in the House of Commons, together with some peers: at the same time, they head the executive departments. The government as a whole consists of about 100 ministers, ministers of state, junior ministers, and whips: as a body, it never meets.

The extension of the state's functions imposed a burden on an institution better suited to the minimal state of the 19th cent. Committees had long been a feature of the cabinet but they were ad hoc and temporary. The modern system of permanent standing committees of the cabinet dates effectively from the Second World War. Small committees of ministers deal with matters too important, too sensitive, or too broad to be determined within a single department. By 1995 there were nineteen cabinet committees or subcommittees.

Recent discussion has emphasized the increasing power of the prime minister and the declining status of the cabinet. There is little doubt that during the 20th cent. the office of prime minister has expanded in power. However, the cabinet remains the ultimate court of appeal within the government.