Abstract
The first person generally held by historians to be the first Prime Minister was Robert Walpole. The thesis of a premiership rests on the Prime Minister becoming more detached from Cabinet, party and Parliament and operating as if the occupant of the office is elected directly by the people. 'The office of Prime Minister', according to Sue Pryce, 'particularly since the time of Harold Wilson in the 1960s, had developed to take on presidential characteristics, with the premier behaving more like the single head of government than the collegiate chair of Cabinet'. Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell in evidence to the House of Lords Constitution Committee 2009: the author worked with John Major who had a very collegiate style. The debate as to whether Britain has prime ministerial or Cabinet Government is not new. The political developments of the nineteenth century changed fundamentally the nature of politics.
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