The Downing Street Press Briefing Room is a news media room located in 9 Downing Street where press conferences are hosted by the Prime Minister, Cabinet ministers, and government officials. The Prime Minister also uses the room to give ministerial broadcasts to the country and the press. [1]
The first broadcast made by a prime minister was by Anthony Eden on 27 April 1956 through the BBC, [2] and over time press conferences have been held by prime ministers in different locations. Sometimes they have been held outside, in front of the door of No. 10 [3] and then alternatively in the rose garden such as during the Cameron-Clegg coalition. [4]
In more recent times, the state dining room in No. 10 has been used as a temporary press briefing room [5] which has allowed for better coverage when there have been times of bad weather.
During the COVID-19 pandemic the government along with chief medical and science officers started to hold daily press briefings to keep members of the public updated, and to give the media an opportunity to ask questions. [6] As a result of the growing number of press conferences needed on a daily basis, the government under Boris Johnson converted a room in No. 9 Downing Street into a permanent media conference room. This would allow members of media to have a permanent place in Downing Street, and would avoid having to convert the state dining room at No.10 into a temporary media room. [7]
The first press conference held in the new briefing room was held by Boris Johnson on 29 March 2021. [8] The first conference was hoped to have been held in the autumn of 2020, however delays to the construction meant conferences from the room would be held back. [9]
The new media refit cost up to £2.6 million when figures were released. A breakdown of the costs was released by the Cabinet Office under freedom of information, which showed the main workings of the room cost £1.8 million, broadband equipment £30,000 and long lead items up to £200,000. [10]
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern prime ministers hold office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the House of Commons, they sit as members of Parliament.
The deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom is a member of the British Cabinet. The title is not always in use and prime ministers have been known to appoint informal deputies without the title of deputy prime minister. The incumbent deputy prime minister is Oliver Dowden.
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the senior decision-making body of His Majesty's Government. A committee of the Privy Council, it is chaired by the Prime Minister and its members include Secretaries of State and other senior ministers. Members of the Cabinet are appointed by the Prime Minister and are by convention chosen from members of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Cabinet is now made up almost entirely of members of the House of Commons.
10 Downing Street in London is the official residence and office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
11 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 11, is the official residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The residence, in Downing Street in London, was built alongside the official residence of the Prime Minister at Number 10 in 1682.
9 Downing Street is one of the buildings situated on Downing Street in the City of Westminster in London, England. It has been used as a separate address to the better known 10 Downing Street since 2001 for various government functions.
The office of Downing Street Chief of Staff is the most senior political appointee in the Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, acting as a senior aide to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The holder of the office retains a highly powerful, non-ministerial position within His Majesty's Government.
Allegra Elizabeth Jane Stratton is a British former political aide, journalist, and writer who served as Downing Street Press Secretary under Boris Johnson from November 2020 to April 2021.
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The Ministerial Code is a document setting out "rules" and standards for government ministers in the United Kingdom. Separate codes exist for ministers of the Scottish Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and the Welsh Government.
The Downing Street Press Secretary is an adviser to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on news media and how to manage the image of the British government to the press. The position is part of the Prime Minister's Office and involves using information on what is happening in the UK and around the world, to decide on how the Prime Minister should present his or her reaction to the media. The incumbent also advises on how to handle news stories and other information which could affect the current Prime Minister or the Ministry.
Theresa May formed the first May ministry in the United Kingdom on 13 July 2016, after having been invited by Queen Elizabeth II to form a new administration. Then the Home Secretary, May's appointment followed the resignation of then Prime Minister David Cameron. The ministry, a Conservative majority government, succeeded the second Cameron ministry which had been formed following the 2015 general election. Cameron's government was dissolved as a result of his resignation in the immediate aftermath of the June 2016 referendum on British withdrawal from the European Union.
Boris Johnson's term as the prime minister of the United Kingdom began on 24 July 2019 when he accepted an invitation of Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, succeeding Theresa May, and ended on 6 September 2022 upon his resignation. While serving as prime minister, Johnson also served as the first lord of the treasury, minister for the civil service, and leader of the Conservative Party. He also served as minister for the union, a position he created to be held concurrently with the duties of prime minister, becoming the first prime minister to adopt the title. 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.
Caroline Louise Beavan Johnson is an English media consultant and is married to former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson. She is the daughter of Matthew Symonds, co-founder of The Independent.
The second Johnson ministry began on 16 December 2019, three days after Boris Johnson's audience with Queen Elizabeth II where she invited him to form a new administration following the 2019 general election. The Conservative Party was returned to power with a majority of 80 seats in the House of Commons. Initially the ministers were largely identical to those at the end of the first Johnson ministry, but changed significantly in cabinet reshuffles in February 2020 and September 2021.
Boris Johnson carried out the first significant reshuffle of his majority government on 13 February 2020. Following the December 2019 general election, there was considerable speculation that Johnson was planning a major reshuffle of the Cabinet, to take place after the United Kingdom's official withdrawal from the European Union on 31 January 2020. There were reports that up to a third of the Cabinet would be dismissed, Whitehall departments abolished and civil servants replaced by policy experts; however, the reshuffle was smaller than expected and no departments were abolished. The anticipated reshuffle was nicknamed "The St Valentine's Day Massacre" in the press, due to its proximity to St Valentine's Day, the name being a reference to the 1929 gangland shooting in Chicago.
A Ministerial Broadcast, also known as a Prime Ministerial Broadcast or Ministerial Statement, is a televised address to the British public, usually given by the incumbent prime minister or other senior cabinet minister in times of national crisis. The BBC and other public service broadcasters must give the government air time if the circumstances are seen to be of sufficient importance, and requests from opposition leaders must also be considered.
Jack Doyle is a British journalist who served as Downing Street Director of Communications from April 2021 to February 2022.
The financing of the 2020 refurbishment of the flat above 11 Downing Street, the official residence of the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, became the subject of a controversy in 2021 when allegations were made in the press as to whether an undisclosed loan was used initially to help finance it. An Electoral Commission inquiry found that the Conservative Party had not accurately reported donations to the party and imposed a £17,800 fine on the party. The commission also said that the full cost of the works had been repaid in full in March 2021. The Conservative Party had said at the time that the Prime Minister had met the full cost of the works.
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.