Battle of Downing Street

Downing Street is a 200-metre (660 ft) long street in the City of Westminster that houses the official residences and offices of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Situated off Whitehall, a few minutes' walk from the Houses of Parliament, Downing Street was built in the 1680s by Irishman Sir George Downing. For more than three hundred years, it has held the official residences of both the First Lord of the Treasury, the office now synonymous with that of the Prime Minister, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, the office held by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Prime Minister's official residence is 10 Downing Street; the Chancellor's official residence is Number 11. The government's Chief Whip has an official residence at Number 12. In practice, the individuals involved may live in different flats; the current Chief Whip actually lives at Number 9. The houses on the south side of the street were demolished in the 19th century to make way for government offices now occupied by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The term "Downing Street" is used as a metonym for the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, or the British Government more generally.

10 Downing Street (pronunciation ) in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the First Lord of the Treasury, usually also the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Along with the adjoining Cabinet Office at 70 Whitehall, it is the headquarters of the Government of the United Kingdom. Situated in Downing Street in the City of Westminster, London, Number 10 is over 300 years old and contains approximately 100 rooms. A private residence for the prime minister's use occupies the third floor and there is a kitchen in the basement. The other floors contain offices and conference, reception, sitting and dining rooms where the prime minister works, and where government ministers, national leaders and foreign dignitaries are met and hosted. At the rear is an interior courtyard and a terrace overlooking a 1⁄2 acre (0.2 ha) garden. Adjacent to St James's Park, Number 10 is approximately 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) from Buckingham Palace, the London residence of the British Monarch, and near the Palace of Westminster, the meeting place of both Houses of Parliament. Originally three houses, Number 10 was offered to Sir Robert Walpole by King George II in 1732. Walpole accepted on the condition that the gift was to the office of First Lord of the Treasury. The post of First Lord of the Treasury has, for much of the 18th and 19th centuries and invariably since 1905, been held by the Prime Minister. Walpole commissioned William Kent to join the three houses and it is this larger house that is known as Number 10 Downing Street. Despite its size and convenient location near to Parliament, few early prime ministers lived at 10 Downing Street. Costly to maintain, neglected, and run-down, Number 10 was scheduled to be demolished several times, but the property survived and became linked with many statesmen and events in British history. In 1985, Margaret Thatcher said Number 10 had become "one of the most precious jewels in the national heritage".10 Downing Street is Government property. Its registered legal title is held in the name of Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (the Secretary of State is a corporation sole).

The Downing Street Christmas tree is the Christmas tree placed on Downing Street, outside 10 Downing Street which is the official office and residence of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The tree arrives in Downing Street around the end of November with the lighting ceremony taking place at the beginning of December which is broadcast live by news broadcasters such as BBC News.

11 Downing Street (sometimes referred to as just Number 11) is the official residence of Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer (who traditionally also has the title of Second Lord of the Treasury). The residence, in Downing Street in London, was built alongside the official residence of the Prime Minister at Number 10 in 1682. The first Chancellor to live there was Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice in 1806, but Number 11 did not become the Chancellor's official residence until 1828.From 1997 onwards, Prime Ministers Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson chose to reside for all or part of their term of office at Number 11, as its residential apartment is larger than Number 10. However, the Prime Minister's home is traditionally described being at Number 10.

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for International Development (DFID). The FCO, itself created in 1968 by the merger of the Foreign Office (FO) and the Commonwealth Office, was responsible for protecting and promoting British interests worldwide. The head of the FCDO is the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, commonly abbreviated to "foreign secretary". This is regarded as one of the four most prestigious positions in the Cabinet – the Great Offices of State – alongside those of Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary. The current foreign secretary is Liz Truss. The FCDO is managed day-to-day by a civil servant, the permanent under-secretary of state for foreign affairs, who also acts as the Head of Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service. The current permanent under-secretary is Sir Philip Barton, who took office on 2 September 2020. The expenditure, administration and policy of the FCDO are scrutinised by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.

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.

12 Downing Street is one of the buildings situated on Downing Street in the City of Westminster in London, England. It has been traditionally used as the office of the Chief Whip although the upper floor forms part of the residential apartment for the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It has been owned and used by the Crown since 1803, first housing the Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces and then the Colonial Office, before the office of the Chief Whip moved into the premises in 1879 until 2001. It is a Grade II listed building.

The garden of 10 and 11 Downing Street is an L-shaped garden, 1⁄2 acre (0.2 ha) in size, behind the official residences of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 10 and 11 Downing Street in the Whitehall district of the City of Westminster in central London. The garden has been gradually developed over the 20th century under successive Prime Ministers.

The Downing Street mortar attack was carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on 7 February 1991. The IRA launched three homemade mortar shells at 10 Downing Street, London, the headquarters of the British government in an attempt to assassinate prime minister John Major and his war Cabinet, who were meeting to discuss the Gulf War. One of the 140 pounds (64 kg) mortar shells exploded in the back garden of Number 10, yards from the Cabinet Office. Due to the bomb-resistant windows, none of the cabinet were hurt, though four other people received minor injuries, including two police officers. The other two shells overshot Downing Street and landed on a green nearby.

The statue of the Earl Kitchener is an outdoor bronze statue by John Tweed depicting Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, installed in 1926 and located on the south side of Horse Guards Parade in London, United Kingdom. The sculpture stands on a Portland stone plinth. It contains the following inscription: KITCHENER/ 1850–1916/ ERECTED BY PARLIAMENT.The statue was cast by A. B. Burton at his Thames Ditton Foundry.

The Cabinet Office is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet of the United Kingdom. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objectives via other departments. It currently has just under 8,000 staff, most of whom are civil servants, some of whom work in Whitehall. Staff working in the Prime Minister's Office are part of the Cabinet Office.

The Cádiz Memorial, also known as the "Prince Regent's Bomb", is an early 19th-century French mortar mounted on a brass monster, located in Horse Guards Parade in Westminster, London. It was first "exposed to public view" on 12 August 1816 and has been classified as a Grade II listed building since 1 December 1987. The monument was a feature of many satirical verses and cartoons in the early 19th century, mainly because the word "bomb" – pronounced "bum" – gave it an immediate association with the notoriously profligate Prince Regent's sizeable backside.