Cabinet collective responsibility: how it works, and why it survives

During the referendum campaign – just as in 1975 – Cabinet ministers have been allowed to dissent from the government’s pro-Remain position. Chris Malone examines why the suspension of Cabinet collective responsibility is such a significant moment in British political history, and the ways in which ministers habitually reconcile their individual positions with the collective line. Despite the ‘blue-on-blue’ attacks of recent weeks, they will likely revert to the fiction of internal consensus when the campaign is over.