The Number 10 Policy Unit is a body of policymakers based in 10 Downing Street,providing policy advice directly to the British Prime Minister. Originally set up to support Harold Wilson in 1974,it has gone through a series of guises to suit the needs of successive prime ministers,staffed variously by political advisers,civil servants and more recently a combination of both.
Barbara Mary Keeley is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Worsley and Eccles South,previously Worsley,since 2005.
Sir Keir Rodney Starmer is a British politician and barrister who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015. He was previously Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.
Mark Philip Sedwill,Baron Sedwill,is a British diplomat and senior civil servant who served as Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service to Prime Ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson from 2018 to 2020. He also served as the United Kingdom National Security Adviser from 2017 to 2020. He was previously the United Kingdom's Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010 and the NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan in 2010. He was the Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office from February 2013 to April 2017.
Jennifer Chapman,Baroness Chapman of Darlington is a British politician serving as a Member of the House of Lords since 2021. A member of the Labour Party,she served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Darlington from 2010 to 2019.
Angela Rayner is a British politician serving as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party since 2020 and Shadow Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up,Housing and Communities since 2023. Rayner has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashton-under-Lyne since 2015. She ideologically identifies as a socialist and as being part of Labour's soft left.
Simon Case is a British civil servant who is the current Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service since 9 September 2020,succeeding Sir Mark Sedwill.
Boris Johnson's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 24 July 2019 when he accepted an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to form a government,succeeding Theresa May,and ended on 6 September 2022 upon his resignation. As prime minister,Johnson served simultaneously as First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service. He also served as Minister for the Union,a position created by him to be held by the prime minister. Johnson's premiership was dominated by Brexit,the COVID-19 pandemic,the Russian invasion of Ukraine,and the cost of living crisis. His tenure was also characterised by several political controversies and scandals,being viewed as the most scandalous premiership of modern times by historians and biographers.
Keir Starmer became Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom after being elected as Leader of the Labour Party on 4 April 2020. He appointed his Shadow Cabinet on 5 and 6 April. Starmer has reshuffled his Shadow Cabinet five times:in June 2020,May 2021,June 2021,November 2021 and September 2023.
Helen MacNamara is a British former civil servant,who served as the Deputy Cabinet Secretary in the Cabinet Office from 2020 to 2021. She had previously worked as Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet from January 2019 and was Director General for Propriety and Ethics in 2018. Previous to this,she was the Director General for Housing and Planning in the Ministry of Housing,Communities and Local Government. She worked for Jeremy Heywood in the Cabinet Secretariat from 2013 to 2016.
Martin Alexander Baillie Reynolds is a British civil servant who served as Principal Private Secretary to Prime Minister Boris Johnson from 2019 to 2022. Reynolds previously served as British Ambassador to Libya under Prime Minister Theresa May and as the principal private secretary to Johnson when he served as Foreign Secretary in May's government.
Partygate is a political scandal in the United Kingdom about gatherings of government and Conservative Party staff during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021,when public health restrictions prohibited most gatherings. The scandal contributed to Boris Johnson's downfall as Prime Minister and his resignation as an MP.
The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom from January to June 2022.
Beergate was a British political controversy concerning allegations that an event in Durham on 30 April 2021,attended by Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and Deputy Leader Angela Rayner,could have been in breach of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Labour and Starmer said,at the time and since,that the event complied with the rules for work gatherings,with a pause for food. The police,after investigating,cleared the Labour attendees,including Starmer and Rayner.
In early July 2022,62 of the United Kingdom's 179 government ministers,parliamentary private secretaries,trade envoys,and party vice-chairmen resigned from their positions in the second administration formed by Boris Johnson as Prime Minister,culminating in Johnson's resignation on 7 July. Johnson's premiership had been considered in danger for months after several scandals,but it was the Chris Pincher scandal that was identified to have spurred on the resignations. Considered the "last straw" for the Prime Minister,the scandal arose after it was revealed that Johnson had promoted his Deputy Chief Government Whip Chris Pincher,who was publicly facing multiple allegations of sexual assault,to the position despite knowing of the allegations beforehand.
The 2022 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours are honours awarded following the September 2022 resignation of the Prime Minister,Boris Johnson.
A list of events relating to politics and government in the United Kingdom during 2023.
The Labour Party leadership of Keir Starmer began when Keir Starmer was elected as Leader of the UK Labour Party in April 2020,following the resignation of Jeremy Corbyn after Labour's defeat at the 2019 general election. Starmer's tenure as leader has been marked by his opposition to some of the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and various other issues involving the government,including Partygate,the cost of living crisis,and the industrial disputes.
The UK House of Commons Committee of Privileges inquiry into the matter referred on 21 April 2022 on the conduct of Boris Johnson concerns four specific assertions made by the then Prime Minister at Prime Minister's Questions about "the legality of activities in 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Office under Covid regulations",events commonly referred to as Partygate. The investigation is concerned with whether Johnson misled the Commons when he made these statements. Johnson resigned over the investigation after having been sent a draft copy of the committee's report.
On 4 September 2023,Keir Starmer,Leader of the UK Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition,carried out a reshuffle of his shadow cabinet. This was his third major reshuffle and was described as promoting his loyalists to senior roles.
