Downing Street is the street in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, which for over two hundred years has contained the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the
First Lord of the TreasuryThe First Lord of the Treasury is the head of the commission exercising the ancient office of Lord High Treasurer in the United Kingdom, and is usually—but not always—also the Prime Minister. Currently, the office is held by Gordon Brown...
, an office held by the
Prime Minister of the United KingdomThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the political leader of the United Kingdom and the Head of Her Majesty's Government...
, and the
Second Lord of the TreasuryThe Second Lord of the Treasury is a member of the commission exercising the ancient office of Lord High Treasurer in the United Kingdom. Since 1827, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has always simultaneously held the office of Second Lord of the Treasury when he has not also been the Prime...
, an office held by the
Chancellor of the ExchequerThe Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called The Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
. The most famous address in Downing Street is
10 Downing Street10 Downing Street is the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury and hence Prime Minister of the United Kingdom...
, the official residence of the First Lord of the Treasury—and thus, in modern times, the residence of the Prime Minister, since the two roles have usually been filled by the same person (exclusively so since 1902). As a result of this,
Downing Street or
Number 10 is often used as a
metonymMetonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept. It comes from the , , "a change of name", from , , "after, beyond" and , , a suffix used to name figures of...
for the Prime Minister or his or her office, while
Number 11 is likewise a term for the Chancellor of the Exchequer or his or her office.
Downing Street is located in
WhitehallWhitehall is a road in Westminster in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards traditional Charing Cross, now at the southern end of Trafalgar Square and marked by the statue of Charles I, which is often regarded as the heart of London...
in central London, a few minutes' walk from the Houses of Parliament and a little farther from
Buckingham PalaceBuckingham Palace is the official London residence of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
. The street was built in the 1680s by
Sir George Downing, 1st BaronetSir George Downing, 1st Baronet was an Anglo-Irish soldier, statesman, and diplomat. Downing Street in London is named after him. As Treasury Secretary he is credited with instituting major reforms in public finance. His influence was substantial on the passage and substance of the mercantilist...
(1632–1689) on the site of a mansion called Hampden House. Downing was a soldier and diplomat who served under
Oliver CromwellOliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader best known for his involvement in making England into a republican Commonwealth and for his later role as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland.He was one of the commanders of the New Model Army which defeated the royalists in...
and
King Charles IICharles II was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father King Charles I was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. The English Parliament did not proclaim Charles II king at this time. Instead they passed a statute making such a...
. In the service of the King he was rewarded with the plot of land adjoining St James's Park upon which Downing Street now stands. The Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the
Chief WhipThe Chief Whip is a political office in some legislatures assigned to an elected member whose task is to administer the whipping system that ensures that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires.-The Whips Office:...
all have official residences in buildings along one side of the street. The houses on the other side were all replaced by the
Foreign OfficeThe Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO, is the British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
in the nineteenth century.
Houses in Downing Street
9 Downing Street9 Downing Street is one of the buildings situated on Downing Street in the City of Westminster in London, England.Under the current government, the building is being used to house the office of the Chief Whip and is also the Downing Street entrance to the Privy Council Office.Formerly the building...
was named in 2001 and is the Downing Street entrance to the
Privy Council OfficeThe Privy Council Office provides secretarial and administrative support to the Lord President of the Council in his or her capacity of president of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council. The head of the Office is the Clerk of the Privy Council...
and currently houses the
Chief WhipThe Chief Whip is a political office in some legislatures assigned to an elected member whose task is to administer the whipping system that ensures that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires.-The Whips Office:...
's office. It was formerly part of Number 10.
10 Downing Street10 Downing Street is the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury and hence Prime Minister of the United Kingdom...
is the official residence of the First Lord of the Treasury, and thus the residence of the British Prime Minister, as in modern times, the two roles have been filled by the same person. It has fulfilled this role since 1735.
11 Downing Street11 Downing Street , is the official residence of the Second Lord of the Treasury in Britain, who in modern times has always been the Chancellor of the Exchequer...
has been the official residence of the Second Lord of the Treasury since 1828, and thus the residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
12 Downing Street12 Downing Street is the official residence of the Chief Whip of the governing party of the UK Parliament.Under the current government, the building is being used to house the Prime Minister's Press Office, Strategic Communications Unit and Information and Research Unit.Other residences in Downing...
, formerly the Chief Whip's Office, currently houses the Prime Minister's Press Office, Strategic Communications Unit and Information and Research Unit. In the 1820s it was occupied by the Judge Advocate-General, although it remained in private ownership. It entered government hands when purchased by the
East India CompanyEast India Company was a historical English company, founded in 1600, and chartered with the monopoly of trading with Southeast Asia, East Asia, and India...
in 1863, and became occupied by the marine and railway departments of the
Board of TradeThe Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...
. It was originally Number 13, but was partially re-built and re-numbered following the demolition of Number 14 in 1876. It was badly damaged by a fire in 1879, and underwent further changes as a result.
14 Downing Street formerly closed off the western end of the street. It was acquired by
the CrownThe Crown is a corporation sole that in certain countries of the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as in any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof, represents the legal embodiment of executive government...
in 1798, and was used by the
War OfficeThe War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1963, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
and
Colonial OfficeColonial Office is the government agency which serves to oversee and supervise their colony* Colonial Office - The British Government department* Office of Insular Affairs - the American government agency* Reichskolonialamt - the German Colonial Office...
in the 19th century. Some parts were demolished in the 1860s, and by 1876 it had been removed completely.
15-16 Downing Street, long since demolished, formerly held the Foreign Office, which also occupied two houses on the west side of the street.
18 Downing Street was occupied by the West India Department of the Colonial Office.
20 Downing Street was occupied by the Tithe Commission.
The houses at the end of the street were arranged around a square, Downing Square.
Throughout the history of these houses, ministers have lived by agreement in whatever rooms they thought necessary. On some occasions Number 11 has been occupied not by the Chancellor of the Exchequer but by the individual considered to be the nominal deputy Prime Minister (whether or not they actually took the title); this was particularly common in coalition governments. Sometimes a minister will only use their Downing Street flat for formal occasions and otherwise live elsewhere.
During his last period in office, in 1881, William Gladstone claimed residence in numbers 10, 11 and 12 for himself and his family. He was both Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister at the time.
After the
1997 General ElectionThe UK general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992. The Labour Party won the general election in a landslide victory with 418 seats, the most seats the party has ever held...
, in which
LabourThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
took power, a swap was carried out by the then-incumbents of the two titles,
Tony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
being a married man with three children still living at home, while his counterpart,
Gordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party. Brown became Prime Minister in June 2007, after the resignation of Tony Blair and three days after becoming leader of the governing Labour Party...
, was unmarried at the time of taking up his post. Although Number 10 continued to be the Prime Minister's official residence and contain the prime ministerial offices, Blair and his family actually moved into the more spacious Number 11, while Brown lived in the more meagre apartments of Number 10. This is the second time this has occurred; Stafford Northcote lived in Number 10 at one point, while Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli occupied Number 11. Interestingly, this event was for precisely the opposite reason—at the time, Number 10 was the more spacious apartment and Sir Stafford had a larger family.
History
The houses between Number 10 and Whitehall were taken over by the government and demolished in 1824 to allow the construction of the Privy Council Office, Board of Trade and Treasury offices.
In 1861 the houses on the west side of Downing Street gave way to new purpose-build government offices for the Foreign Office, India Office, Colonial Office, and the Home Office.
Downing Street gates
The first barriers in Downing Street were erected at the
St. James's ParkSt. James's Park is a 23 hectare park in Westminster, central London, the oldest of the Royal Parks of London. The park lies at the southernmost tip of the St. James's area, which was named after a leper hospital dedicated to St. James the Less....
end of the street for the unveiling of the
CenotaphA cenotaph is a tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of persons whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάϕιον...
on 11 November 1920. They were a public safety measure intended to prevent the crowds in Whitehall becoming too dense.
With the
movement for Irish independenceThe Irish War of Independence was a guerrilla war mounted against the British government in Ireland by the Irish Republican Army . It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence, and ended with a truce in July 1921...
increasing in violence, it was decided that these barriers would be retained, and raised and strengthened. In addition, on 26 November 1920 construction commenced on a substantial wooden barricade, high, were erected at the end of the street. These were described as being of a "substantial character" mounted into proper foundations. Vehicle gates were included in the barrier. The barriers were taken down in 1922 with the creation of the
Irish Free StateThe Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand....
, but vehicle access has been curtailed since 1973 when metal barriers were placed across the entrance to the street.
In 1974, the
Metropolitan PoliceMetropolitan police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
proposed erecting a semi-permanent barrier between the
pavementA sidewalk , pavement , footpath , platform or footway is a path for pedestrians that is situated alongside a road or a paved...
and carriageway on the Foreign Office side of the street, to keep pedestrians off the main part of the street. The proposal came with assurances that tourists would still be permitted to take photographs at the door of Number 10. However then Prime Minister,
Harold WilsonJames Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, PC was a British Labour Party politician; one of the most prominent British politicians of the latter half of the 20th century, he served two terms as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, firstly from 1964 to 1970, and again from 1974...
rejected the proposal, feeling that it would appear to be an unacceptable restriction of the freedom of the public. Wilson's
private secretaryIn the United Kingdom government, a Private Secretary is a civil servant in a Department or Ministry, responsible to the Secretary of State or Minister...
wrote "I much regret this further erosion of the Englishman's right to wander at will in Downing Street."
In 1982 access was more fully restricted with railings and a demountable gate. This was replaced by the current black steel gates in 1989. The increase in security was again due to an increase in violence, particularly by the Provisional IRA.
Public right of way
The public right of way along Downing Street has not been extinguished or subject to a gating order under the
Highways Act 1980The Highways Act 1980 consolidated with amendments, earlier legislation.Many amendments relate only to changes of highway authority, to include new unitary councils and National Parks....
. The road retains the status of a public highway maintained by Westminster City Council. Public access is instead curtailed by the use of
common lawCommon law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals , rather than through legislative statutes or executive action, and to corresponding legal systems that rely on precedential case law....
powers to prevent
breach of the peaceBreach of the peace is a legal term used in constitutional law in English-speaking countries, and in a wider public order sense in Britain.-Constitutional law:...
.
Although the Downing Street government buildings and grounds are a designated site under the
Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005The Serious Organized Crime and Police Act 2005 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom aimed primarily at creating the Serious Organised Crime Agency, it also significantly extended and simplified the powers of arrest of a constable and introduced unprecedented restrictions on...
for criminal trespass, the actual street was not included within the boundaries of the designated area.
Security
Since 1989 entering Downing Street has required passing through a security checkpoint. The street is patrolled by armed police, and there is always at least one police officer outside the door of Number 10.
External links
- Downing Street at the Survey of London
The Survey of London is a research project to produce a comprehensive historical and architectural survey of the former County of London. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Robert Ashbee, an Arts-and-Crafts architect and social thinker, and was motivated by a desire to record and preserve London's...
online (see items 14-18 in the table of contents).