Page "Cabinet of the United Kingdom" Paragraph 17

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 of meeting on a Thursday, after the appointment of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister the meeting day was switched to Tuesday.

However, since becoming prime minister, David Cameron has held his cabinet meetings on Thursdays again.

The length of meetings varies according to the style of the Prime Minister and political conditions, but today meetings can be as little as 30 minutes in length, which suggests announcement or ratification of decisions taken in committee, by informal groups, or in bi-lateral discussions between the Prime Minister and individual colleagues, with discussion in Cabinet itself very limited.

The Prime Minister normally has a weekly audience with The Queen thereafter.