at the 1944
Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference. From left to right,
Mackenzie King (Canada),
Jan Smuts (South Africa),
Winston Churchill (United Kingdom),
Peter Fraser (
New Zealand), and
John Curtin (Australia). In parliamentary systems, government functions along the following lines: • The head of government — usually the leader of the majority party or
coalition — forms the government, which is answerable to parliament; • Full answerability of government to parliament is achieved through • The ability of parliament to pass a
vote of no confidence. • The ability to vote down legislative proposals of the government. • Control over or ability to vote down fiscal measures and the budget (or
supply); a government is powerless without control of the state finances. In a
bicameral system, it is often the so-called
lower house (e.g. the
British House of Commons) that exercises the major elements of control and oversight; however, in some (e.g. Australia, Italy), the government is constitutionally or by convention answerable to both chambers/Houses of Parliament. All of these requirements directly impact the head of government's role. Consequently, they often play a 'day to day' role in parliament, answering questions and defending the government on the 'floor of the House', while in
semi-presidential systems they may not be required to play as much of a role in the functioning of parliament.
Appointment In many countries, the head of government is commissioned by the head of state to form a government, on the basis of the strength of party support in the lower house; in some other states, the head of government is directly elected by parliament. Many parliamentary systems require ministers to serve in parliament, while others ban ministers from sitting in parliament (they must resign on becoming ministers).
Removal Heads of government are typically removed from power in a parliamentary system by • Resignation, following: • Defeat in a general election. • Defeat in a
leadership vote at their party
caucus, to be replaced by another member of the same party. • Defeat in a parliamentary vote on a major issue, e.g.,
loss of supply,
loss of confidence. (In such cases, a head of government may seek a
parliamentary dissolution from the head of state and attempt to regain support by popular vote.) • Dismissal — some constitutions allow a head of state (or their designated representative, as is the case in some
Commonwealth countries) to dismiss a head of government, though its use can be controversial, as occurred in 1975 when then Australian Governor-General, Sir
John Kerr, dismissed Prime Minister
Gough Whitlam in the
Australian Constitutional Crisis. • Death — in this case, the deputy head of government typically acts as the head of government until a new head of government is appointed.
First among equals vs dominating the cabinet Constitutions differ in the range and scope of powers granted to the head of government. Some older constitutions – for example, Australia's
1900 text, and Belgium's
1830 text – do not mention their prime ministerial offices at all, the offices became a
de facto political reality without a formal constitutional status. Some constitutions make a Prime Minister (
first among equals) and that remains the practical reality for the
Prime Minister of Belgium and the
Prime Minister of Finland. Other states however, make their head of government a central and dominant figure within the cabinet system; Ireland's
Taoiseach, for example, alone can decide when to seek a parliamentary dissolution, in contrast to other countries where this is a cabinet decision, with the Prime Minister just one member voting on the suggestion. In
Israel, while the
Government is nominally a
collegiate body with a role for the
Prime Minister, the Israeli Prime Minister is the dominant figure in the executive branch in practice. The
Prime Minister of Sweden, under the
1974 Instrument of Government, is a constitutional office with all key executive powers either directly at his or her disposal or indirectly through the collegial
Government, whose members are all appointed and dismissed at the Prime Minister's sole discretion. Under the
unwritten British constitution, the
prime minister's role has evolved, based often on the individual's personal appeal and strength of character, as contrasted between, for example,
Winston Churchill as against
Clement Attlee,
Margaret Thatcher as against
John Major. It is alleged that the increased personalisation of leadership in a number of states has led to heads of government becoming themselves "semi-presidential" figures, due in part to media coverage of politics that focuses on the leader and his or her mandate, rather than on parliament; and to the increasing centralisation of power in the hands of the head of government. Such allegations have been made against three former British Prime ministers:
Margaret Thatcher,
Tony Blair, and
Boris Johnson. They were also made against Italian prime ministers
Silvio Berlusconi and
Matteo Renzi, Canadian prime minister
Pierre Trudeau and
Federal Chancellor of
West Germany (later all of Germany),
Helmut Kohl, when in power. == Official residence ==