Cabinet of the United Kingdom Minister to attend Cabinet meetings on a regular basis, notably Alastair Campbell in his capacity as Director of Communications and Strategy between 1997 and 2003, and Jonathan Powell, the Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister, under Tony Blair, with a distinctly separate role from the Cabinet Secretary/Head of the Civil Service. A photograph is taken of each new Cabinet in the garden or drawing room at 10 Downing Street. The Cabinet meets on a regular basis, usually weekly on a Thursday morning notionally to discuss the most important issues of government policy, and to make decisions. Despite the custom
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom powerful than the American presidents, as the Prime Minister is part of the legislature, and unlike presidents, can directly initiate legislation. Thus, Dowding argues that adding to these powers, makes the Prime Minister less like presidents, and that what Britain is witnessing is not presidentialisation but, increase in powers overtime, can be best explained as "Prime Ministerialisation" of British politics. Regarding the thesis, Dowding writes: "The presidentialisation of the Prime Minister thesis should be expunged from political science vocabulary, to the extent that the forces identified by those who pursue the thesis exist, they do not make the British Prime