Outline the different roles and assess the relative importance of the UK and US cabinets.

The underlying difference between the cabinet in the UK and its counterpart in the US is the function, which they are designed to undertake. In the US the Cabinet is seem by Presidents as more of a formality than a help and the cabinet its self is designed to advise rather than influence or make decisions as the UK cabinet does. In the UK the cabinet is made up of the Prime Ministers closest advisors …

…however have very different roles. The US version is very much an advisory body, with no specific decision making powers. In the UK, the cabinet is very much meant to be a major part of the legislation producing procedure. But due to the very nature of the physical layout of the cabinet and the very argumentative processes the cabinet's influence is decreasing rapidly and Tony Blair's use of it has diminished its authority even more.