Caretaker Government and the Evolution of Caretaker Conventions in New Zealand

Boston, Jonathan; Levine, Stephen; McLeay, Elizabeth; Roberts, Nigel S.; Schmidt, Hannah

doi:10.26686/vuwlr.v28i4.6057

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…The rationale behind this is that the dismissed cabinet cannot take any further decisions or actions that would compromise the future responsibilities of the next cabinet. In parliamentary regimes (and in consociational democracies in particular), a new full-fledged cabinet only takes power after its investiture vote in parliament; after new elections; after a transitory government 1 ; and/or after an agreement between the main political actors (Boston et al, 1998). These events often take weeks, if not months.…”

Section: Definition and Measurement Of Caretaker Governments In Belgiummentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If the end of a cabinet and the kickoff of a new one are considered goldmines for political scientists working on elections, executives and ministerial careers, these intermediary periods did not receive the same research attention, however. Literature on caretaker governments is particularly scarce (Boston et al, 1998;Courtenay Ryals & Golder, 2010;Schleiter & Belu, 2015) and comparative works are lacking. Yet, many West European countries have witnessed more or less long periods of caretaker governments, mostly in-between elections or in relation to government formation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Belgian Exceptionalism

Caluwaerts¹,

Reuchamps²

2021

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Section: Definition and Measurement Of Caretaker Governments In Belgiummentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Belgian Exceptionalism

Caluwaerts¹,

Reuchamps²

2021

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“…Not until three days after the election did Muldoon eventually yield to pressure from senior colleagues, and agree to act on the advice of the incoming government. 2 Had clear caretaker conventions existed prior to the 1984 government change, this crisis, and the considerable economic and political uncertainty that it generated, could have been averted.…”

Section: Underdeveloped Caretaker Conventions: Causes and Risksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Avoiding Another ‘Squatter in Downing Street’ Controversy: The Need to Improve the Caretaker Conventions before the 2015 General Election

Schleiter

Belu

2014

Political Quarterly

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In the UK the rules governing caretaker situations have historically been underspecified. The UK's constitutional traditions, such as prime ministerial discretion to time elections and its two-party system, have in the past limited the frequency and duration of caretaker periods. However, the recently lengthened election timetable, new constraints on the executive introduced by the Fixed-term Parliaments Act (2011), and a decline in the dominance of the two largest parties are raising the risk that the UK will experience caretaker periods more often and for longer stretches of time. In this paper, we offer an analysis of the UK's current caretaker provisions and conclude that the existing conventions are insufficiently detailed and can render such periods problematic and controversy-prone. Important lessons, we suggest, can be learned from reforms in other Westminster systems, and from the caretaker rules of other countries.As the general election of 2010 approached, opinion polls generated strong expectations of a hung parliament. In preparation, Gordon Brown asked the Cabinet Secretary to lead efforts to consolidate the existing unwritten conventions that govern how central government operates into a single written document. The result was a first draft of the UK Cabinet Manual, of which the caretaker conventions were a part. Belated attention to the challenges of caretaker periods caused the government to operate, throughout the 2010 election and the subsequent government formation process, on the basis of these draft conventions, which had not yet been approved and were not well understood by the press or the public. As a result, there was disagreement and debate about the Prime Minister's decision to remain in office until the coalition talks were completed.The 2010 general election returned the UK's second hung parliament since the Second World War. Since Labour had lost its majority, the media and the public seemed to expect that Gordon Brown and his government would resign immediately. When Brown remained in office pending the completion of the coalition talks, he was widely decried as the 'squatter in Downing Street'. There seemed to be little understanding of the government's caretaker status.Moreover, in the midst of the economic crisis, decisions arose during the caretaker period, which could not be postponed. Two days after the general election, Mr Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, attended an extraordinary meeting of European finance ministers, which was set to adopt far-reaching new powers for the Commission and its fellow bodies. In the event, Mr Darling chose to consult with the Conservative party and the Liberal Democrats before the meeting, but there was at the time no constitutional convention preventing him from making substantial commitments that would have bound the incoming government, possibly in direct contradiction to its policy position.

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“…• governments should avoid making major policy decisions that are likely to commit an incoming government-the government and the public service should thus maintain the policy 'status quo' (Boston et al 1998); • governments should also avoid making significant appointments or signing major contracts; and…”

Section: Chapter 3 Origins Of Caretaker Conventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Caretaker Conventions in Australasia: Minding the shop for government

Menzies¹,

Tiernan²

2014

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Professor Wanna has produced around 17 books including two national text books on policy and public management. He has produced a number of research-based studies on budgeting and financial management including: Budgetary Management and Control (1990); Managing Public Expenditure (2000), From Accounting to Accountability (2001) and, most recently, Controlling Public Expenditure (2003). He has just completed a study of state level leadership covering all the state and territory leaders-entitled Yes Premier: Labor leadership in Australia's states and territories-and has edited a book on Westminster Legacies in Asia and the Pacific-Westminster Legacies: Democracy and responsible government in Asia and the Pacific. He was a chief investigator in a major Australian Research Council funded study of the Future of Governance in Australia (1999-2001) involving Griffith and the ANU. His research interests include Australian and comparative politics, public expenditure and budgeting, and government-business relations. He also writes on Australian politics in newspapers such as The Australian, Courier-Mail and The Canberra Times and has been a regular state political commentator on ABC radio and TV. Table of Contents Author Pro les ix Acknowledgements xi Foreword xiii List of abbreviations and acronyms xv Chapter 1. Introduction 1 Chapter 2. What are conventions? 7 Chapter 3. Origins of caretaker conventions Chapter 4. When do the conventions apply? Chapter 5. Caretaker conventions: an overview of Australian jurisdictions Chapter 6. Caretaker conventions: an overview of New Zealand and local government arrangements Chapter 7. Forces in uencing the observance of caretaker conventions Chapter 8. A changing practice? Chapter 9. Caretaker conventions and the future of responsible government Glossary References Appendix A. Di erent approaches-what the jurisdictional guidances say vii xiii List of abbreviations and acronyms

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Caretaker Government and the Evolution of Caretaker Conventions in New Zealand

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Belgian Exceptionalism

Belgian Exceptionalism

Avoiding Another ‘Squatter in Downing Street’ Controversy: The Need to Improve the Caretaker Conventions before the 2015 General Election

Caretaker Conventions in Australasia: Minding the shop for government

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