Examiners commented on a significant quantity of high quality answers and the overall impression gained was that candidates were well informed. It is a standard question which should reward any well prepared candidate and very many accessed Level 3 marks here particularly for AO1 and AO2. Candidates on the whole managed to achieve balance, combining both methods of control and limitations on power although weaker candidates did tend to concentrate on the former. The most common factors quoted that enable Prime
Ministerial dominance were agenda control, patronage, control of cabinet committees, ‘sofa’ politics and quad government. Many candidates were extremely secure in their knowledge of the Prime Minister as chief policy maker, emergency powers, appointments and dismissals and the focus of the media on his office. Examiners noted that the question requires balance and that for a Level 3 response both powers and constraints, though not necessarily in equal measure, have to be considered. The most common limitations were that the Prime
Minister can be overruled by the cabinet; some ministers may have their own power base, the passage of events, the size of parliamentary majority and the impact of coalition politics. Level 3 responses would also display a range of relevant examples from either one or preferably a range of Prime Ministers.
Very good answers drew on the experience of at least some of Thatcher, Major, Blair and
Brown, with some candidates able to contrast why Thatcher and Blair were able at least initially to dominate their governments with why Major and Brown could not do so. Some candidates went beyond to show how Thatcher and Blair could not sustain this domination and some used George Jones’s ‘Elastic Theory’ well. Although not explicitly required the question invited consideration of how David Cameron’s ability to dominate