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Students Zone - Self test questions
Use these questions both to test your detailed knowledge of each chapter. Make a note of your answers and then consult the answers page on this website. If you score less than 12 correct answers for any chapter, you probably need to spend more time re-reading and revising its contents.
CHAPTER 7: The Core Executive in the Westminster System
1. The idea of the 'core executive':
a) Stresses the importance of Prime Ministerial Government
b) Stresses the importance of collective Cabinet Government
c) Stresses the interdependence of a range of institutions and individuals and the blurring of lines between them
2. The idea of the 'core executive':
a) Stresses roles more than structures
b) Stresses structures more than roles
c) Treats both as equally important
3. The Prime Minister's Principal Private Secretary:
a) Heads the PM's Private Office
b) Is responsible for organising the PM's private affairs
c) Manages the PM's diary
4. The Cabinet usually consists of about:
a) Ten members
b) Fifteen members
c) Twenty members
5. Most Cabinet business is conducted:
a) In full Cabinet
b) In Cabinet Committees and sub-committees
c) More or less equally between full Cabinet and its Committees
6. The Head of the Cabinet Office is known as:
a) The Prime Minister's Principal Secretary
b) The Cabinet Secretary
c) The Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet
7. Numbers employed make the Treasury:
a) One of the largest departments of government
b) One of the smallest departments of government
c) A middle ranking department of government
8. In the core executive most business is conducted:
a) In the Cabinet system
b) In Departments
c) In the Prime Minister's Private Office
9. The box containing papers for individual consideration by Ministers is colloquially known as:
a) The red box
b) The black box
c) The Minister's box
10. Presentation of policy to the media is:
a) A constant concern in the core executive
b) An intermittent concern in the core executive
c) No concern at all in the core executive
11. Prime Minister's Question Time is conducted:
a) On the floor of the House of Commons
b) In a weekly Press Conference
c) In regular television interviews with selected members of the public
12. The workload of Prime Ministers over the last century has:
a) Decreased
b) Remained about the same
c) Grown greatly
13. Mrs Thatcher resigned from office:
a) Because she felt a new person should take over
b) Because she lost a general election
c) Because she failed to command the continuing support of backbench Conservative MPs
14. Most Cabinet Ministers most of the time:
a) Are happy with their present job
b) Are anxious for promotion
c) Would like to return to private life
15. 'Prime Ministerial Government' is:
a) The commonly accepted model of power in the core executive
b) A widely argued but contested model of power in the core executive
c) Now a discredited model of power in the core executive
