A discussion on the British Prime Minister as a classic example of the strong parliamentary executive.
This paper considers the nature of the Westminster parliamentary executive system in the United Kingdom, its form, structure and strengths in terms of stability and power accorded and draws comparison with other models notably that of Germany. It looks at how the British Prime Minister is frequently accorded the title of the most powerful executive in the world even though the Prime Minister (PM) has no more democratic legitimacy than any other member of the legislative nor is he the Head of State.
“A famous characteristic of the British “Westminster” model is the bi-party concept. This is strikingly evident in the architecture of the House of Commons, which has been constructed to allow the majority party of government and the (officially recognised and state financed) opposition to debate directly with each other across the floor. Leaders of coalition governments inevitably suffer weaker prime ministerial authority following the diffusion of power among ministers and committee leaders from the parties of lesser coalition partners. Such division of power is necessary to keep the other parties “on board”, and so not threaten the overall coalition, but naturally this greatly restricts the ability of the prime minister to “hire and fire” his government members an ability considered “central to prime ministerial power.” ”