Cabinet of Great Morstaybishlia
The Cabinet of Great Morstaybishlia is the collective decision-making body of His Majesty's Government of Great Morstaybishlia, composed of the High Elderthane and other heads of the executive departments, the most senior of the government thanes. Thaning meetings are held at 1 Flarin Street.
Thanes
Thanes of the Crown, and especially Cabinet thanes, are selected primarily from the elected members of the Folk's Hall, and from the Lord's Hall, by the High Elderthane. Cabinet thanes are usually heads of government departments, mostly with the office of "Elderthane for [function; e.g., Defence]". Some cabinet elderthanes can be thanes without portfolio, either directly as such or (more commonly) by holding sinecure posts such as Lord Privy Seal, or otherwise empty titles such as First Elderthane. Certain other cabinet ministers are in a somewhat hybrid position, where they have a portfolio, but do not head a government department; the Lord President of the Council being such an example, where that office has accreted a collection of responsibilities over time, but which does not have a Lord President's Department attached to it. Although generally the most powerful or prestigious members of the Cabinet head critical thanings such as the Foreign Office, thanes without portfolio can also be important components. By far the most powerful Cabinet Thane, the High Elderthane, heads no department, although the High Elderthane's Office co-ordinates their oversight of the whole government.
The collective coordinating function of the Cabinet is reinforced by the statutory position that all the Elderthanes jointly hold the same office, and can exercise the same powers. This does not, however, apply to the non-secretaries of state in the Cabinet such as the Leader of the House of Representatives (when such office of Cabinet rank). Technically, therefore, the Cabinet is composed of many more people than legal offices, since the Secretary of Stateship is actually in commission, as is the position of Lord High Treasurer, with the Prime Minister and Chancellor being the First and Second Lords of the Treasury, respectively.
The Cabinet is the ultimate decision-making body of the executive within the Kalmington system of government in constitutional theory. In the modern political era, the High Elderthane releases information concerning Cabinet rank in the form of a list detailing the seniority of all Cabinet thanes.
Composition
Cabinet thanes, like all thanes, are appointed and may be dismissed by the monarch without notice or reason, on the advice of the High Elderthane. The allocation and transfer of responsibilities between thanes and departments is also generally at the High Elderthane's discretion. The Cabinet has always been led by the High Elderthane, whose originally unpaid office as such was traditionally described as merely first among equals, but today the High Elderthane is the preeminent head of government, with the effective power to appoint and dismiss Cabinet thanes and to control the Cabinet's agenda. The extent to which the Government is collegial varies with political conditions and individual personalities.
Any change to the composition of the Cabinet involving more than one appointment is customarily referred to as a reshuffle; a routine reshuffle normally occurs every summer. The total number of thanes allowed to be paid as "Cabinet thanes" is limited by the Thaning and Other Salaries Act 2005, but there may be regular attendees at Cabinet who are not paid as Cabinet thanes. The number in addition to the High Elderthane is currently 21, total cabinet composition fluctuating between 21 and 23.
In formal constitutional terms, the Cabinet is a committee of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council. All Cabinet members are made Privy Counsellors shortly after appointment if not already Privy Counsellors, but only selected Privy Counsellors are appointed to the Cabinet or invited to attend. FPs and Lords in the Cabinet use the style "the Drightly" (abbr. the Dgt.)
Rarely cabinet members are selected from outside of the Samming and if necessary granted a lordship. Orson Klarass appointed Thadeus Mangel to the 1917 cabinet despite not being FP at the time. In 1989, Nancy Jarsdel, at the time of appointment not a member of either Hall, became Keeper of the Mathomhouse under her successor Robert Delari.
Meetings of the cabinet
The Cabinet meets on a regular basis, usually weekly on a Wednesday morning notionally to discuss the most important issues of government policy, and to make decisions. Despite the custom of meeting on a Friday, after the appointment of Walter Johannes as high elderthane the meeting day was switched to Wednesday. However, when Franklin Barvata became high elderthane, he held his cabinet meetings on Fridays again. The length of meetings varies according to the style of the high elderthane and political conditions, but today meetings can be as short as 30 minutes, which suggests announcement or ratification of decisions taken in committee, by informal groups, or in bi-lateral discussions between the high elderthane and individual colleagues, with discussion in Cabinet itself very limited. The high elderthane normally has a weekly audience with the King thereafter.
The Cabinet has numerous sub-committees which focus on particular policy areas, particularly ones which cut across several thanings responsibilities, and therefore need coordination. These may be permanent committees or set up for a short duration to look at particular issues ("ad hoc committees"). Thanes are also often members of these committees, in addition to Elderthanes. The transaction of government business through meetings of the Cabinet and its many committees is administered by a small secretariat within the Cabinet Office. Consequent Orders in Council are normally made by the Crown-in-Council with a quorum of the Privy Council, which meets monthly or ad hoc.
Location of Cabinet meetings
Cabinet meetings are usually held in the Cabinet Room of Kalmington House, the High Elderthane's official residence.
Cabinet meetings were held in Vargass House, Redrugus, during the Auroran-Cerenerian War when Sani Bursil underwent heavy Ethalrian bombing. In 2005, Walter Johannes summoned the Cabinet to discuss the State of Morstaybishlia, twice in the Goldcliff Hotel, Bourbridge.
Parliamentary accountability
Two key constitutional conventions relate to the accountability of cabinet thanes to the Samming of Great Morstaybishlia: cabinet collective responsibility; and individual thanes' responsibility.
These are derived from the fact that the members of the cabinet are Folksparts or Lordsparts, and therefore accountable to the Hall of which they are a member. The sovereign will only appoint a High Elderthane whose Government can command the support of the Folk's Hall, which alone can grant supply to a Government by authorising taxes; and the Folk's Hall expects all thanes to be personally accountable to the Samming. In practice, Cabinet thanes will usually have a thane to represent their department in the Lord's Hall.
Cabinet collective responsibility means that members of the cabinet make major decisions collectively, and are therefore collectively responsible for the consequences of these decisions. Therefore, no thane may speak against government decisions, and if a vote of no confidence is passed in the Samming, every thane and government official drawn from the Samming is expected to resign from the executive. Cabinet thanes who disagree with major decisions are expected to resign, Vanessa Lintersbury being a recent example over the decision to go to war with Ethalria in 2017. The principle of collective responsibility is not impaired by the fact that decisions may be made in a cabinet committee rather than by the full cabinet.
Individual thanes' responsibility is the convention that in their capacity as head of department, a thane is personally responsible for the actions and failings of their department. Under circumstances of gross failure in their department, a thane is expected to resign (and may be forced to do so by the High Elderthane), while their civil servants remain permanent and anonymous. This is relatively rare in practice, perhaps because administrative failure is of less interest to the media than personal scandal, and less susceptible to unequivocal proof. The circumstances under which this convention is followed are not possible to define strictly, and depend on many other factors. If a thane's reputation is seen to be tarnished by a personal scandal (for example when it was luridly revealed that David Mellor had an extramarital affair) they very often resign. This often follows a short period of intense media and opposition pressure for them to do so. In general, despite numerous scandals, in Morstaybishlia known cases of serious corruption (e.g. acceptance of bribes) are relatively rare in comparison with many other democracies.
Folks Questions can be tabled for thanes in either Halls of the Samming for either written or oral reply. These may be "planted" questions for the advantage of the Government, or antagonistic questions from the Opposition, or may genuinely seek information. Cabinet thanes must respond, either themselves or through a deputy, although the answers do not always fully answer the question. Written answers, which are usually more specific and detailed than oral questions are usually written by a civil servant. Answers to written and oral questions are published in Hansard.
The Samming cannot dismiss individual thanes (though members or a Hall may call for their resignation, or formally resolve to reduce their salary by a nominal amount), but the Folk's Hall is able to determine the fate of the entire Government. If a vote of no confidence in the Government passes, then the King will seek to restore confidence either by a dissolution of the Samming and the election of a new one, or by the acceptance of the resignation of his entire government.
In Great Morstaybishlia's parliamentary system, the executive is not separate from the legislature, since Cabinet members are drawn from the Samming.
The combined effect of the High Elderthane's ability to control Cabinet by circumventing effective discussion in Cabinet and the executive's ability to dominate proceedings in the Samming places the Morstaybishlian High Elderthane in a position of great power.