Downing Street

Facts and information

Address:: Downing Street, Westminster,
London SW1
Website:: www.number10.gov.uk
Buses:: 3 11 12 24 29 53 87 88 91 148 159 214 453
Trains:: Charing Cross BK NR, Embankment BK CR DS NR, St. James’s Park CR DS, Westminster CR DS JBNote: The nearest station to Downing Street is Westminster. We can help plan your journey from Waterloo, King’s Cross and many other stations
: Hotels near Downing Street
: Restaurants near Downing Street

Downing Street, London - the Prime Minister’s home

^{Downing Street, London} Iron gates outside No. 10 Downing Street

^{No. 10 Downing Street}

British politics – historical timeline

1240:: First Parliament sits at Westminster
1376:: The ‘Good Parliament’
1388:: The ‘Merciless Parliament’
1640:: The ‘Long Parliament’
1642:: Charles I declares war on Parliament
1653:: Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector
1660:: Restoration of the monarchy under Charles II
1679:: Birth of the Whig and Tory Parties
1694:: The Bank of England is founded
1715:: Ministry of Walpole, the country’s first PM
1774:: Ministry of Pelham
1751:: The Bank of England assumes responsibility for the national debt
1754:: Ministry of Newcastle
1757:: Ministry of Pitt-Newcastle
1762:: Ministry of Bute
1763:: Ministry of Grenville
1765:: Ministry of Rockingham
1766:: Ministry of Chatham
1768:: Ministry of Grafton
1770:: Ministry of Lord North
1773:: The Stock Exchange is founded
1782:: Second ministry of Rockingham
1783:: Ministry of Shelburne, followed by Ministry of Pitt the Younger
1801:: Pitt resigns, and is replaced by Addington
1805:: No.11 Downing Street becomes the official home of the Chancellor
1809:: Ministry of Spencer Perceval
1812:: Spencer Perceval is assassinated
1830:: Whigs in power under Grey
1832:: The Great Reform Bill enlarges the franchise and restructures Parliament
1834:: Fire at the Palace of Westminster
1835:: Municipal Reform Act expands the franchise to all ratepayers
1839:: Lord Melbourne resigns, but forms another administration when Peel refuses
1841:: Tories in power under Peel
1846:: Whigs in power
1852:: Derby’s first Conservative government
1852:: Aberdeen’s Coalition government
1855:: Palmerston’s first Liberal government
1858:: Derby’s second Conservative government
1859:: Palmerston’s second Liberal government
1865:: Palmerston dies, and is replaced by Russell
1866:: Derby’s third Conservative government
1868:: Disraeli replaces Derby as PM
1868:: Gladstone’s first Liberal government
1873:: Gladstone resigns, and Disraeli declines to take office
1874:: Disraeli’s second Conservative government
1880:: Gladstone’s second Liberal government
1885:: Salisbury’s first Conservative government
1886:: Gladstone’s third Liberal government. The Liberal party splits
1886:: Salisbury’s second Conservative government
1892:: Gladstone’s fourth Liberal government
1894:: Rosebery’s Liberal government
1895:: Salisbury’s third Unionist government
1902:: Balfour’s Unionist government
1905:: Campbell-Bannerman’s Liberal government
1906:: Birth of the Labour Party
1908:: Asquith’s Liberal government
1911:: Parliament Act curtails the power of the House of Lords, and establishes five-yearly elections
1915:: Asquith heads a coalition government during World War I
1916:: Lloyd George succeeds Asquith
1918:: Vote given to women over thirty
1922:: Bonar Law’s Conservative government
1923:: Stanley Baldwin succeeds Bonar Law
1924:: MacDonald’s first Labour government, soon replaced by the Tories under Baldwin
1929:: MacDonald’s second Labour government
1931:: MacDonald’s National government
1935:: Baldwin replaces MacDonald as PM
1937:: Neville Chamberlain replaces Baldwin
1940:: Winston Churchill succeeds Chamberlain as PM during World War II
1945:: Atlee’s Labour Government
1948:: Bevan introduces the NHS
1951:: Churchill’s second stint at power, as head of a Conservative Government
1955:: Churchill resigns, and is replaced by Anthony Eden
1957:: Eden resigns, replaced by Macmillan
1963:: Douglas-Home succeeds Macmillan
1964:: Harold Wilson’s first Labour government
1970:: Edward Heath’s Conservative government
1974:: Wilson’s second Labour government
1976:: Wilson resigned, and was replaced by James Callaghan
1979:: Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government
1981:: Social Democrat Party formed
1990:: Thatcher resigns, and is replaced by John Major
1997:: Tony Blair’s Labour government
2007:: Gordon Brown succeeds Tony Blair

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From the outside Downing Street seems surprisingly modest – not unlike a thousand other streets you’ll see in the city… but not every dwelling has a ten-feet gate and burly copper on the doorstep.

History of 10 Downing Street

Downing Street was built by a well-known rogue from the civil war era. George Downing was a confident of Oliver Cromwell and rose to become his intelligence chief. When Cromwell died in 1658, Downing realised that his cushy lifestyle was coming to a close, and went cap in hand to King Charles II.

Britain’s first Prime Minister, Robert Walpole

^{Robert Walpole} Portrait of Prime Minister Pitt the Younger

^{Pitt the Younger}

Charles was naturally reluctant to employ an enemy of his father – but needed all of his inside information. So he quickly rose up the ranks and gained a lot wealth.

Downing decided that the quickest way to build up his bank balance was to develop the land around Whitehall – a prime sight right next to the Royal palace and government buildings. He therefore built a row of brick-terraced houses stretching all the way to St. James’s Park.

Prime Ministers who have lived at No. 10

The first prime minister to live at number 10 was Sir Robert Walpole in 1735 – although he didn’t really warrant the title. The Cromwell era had only ended 70 years before, and the Crown was still in the process of handing power to the people. His official title was simply ‘First Lord of the Treasury’ – but is generally regarded as the country’s first PM.

The King offered him the property as a gift from the monarch, but he insisted that it be used on an official basis. He also had it knocked through to the house at the back, which overlooked Horse Guards Parade. All of the most important rooms – like the Cabinet Room and White Drawing Room – are housed in the rear.

The next two prime ministers preferred to remain in their old homes – and it wasn’t until 1763 that the next one moved in. Unfortunately, he was sacked two years later and Lord North took his place.

^{Benjamin Disraeli} Portrait of William Gladstone

^{William Gladstone} Portrait of Winston Churchill

^{Winston Churchill}

It was under Lord North that several major improvements were made – including the famous lamp and lions-head knocker on the door. He also built the checkerboard floor that you sometimes see on the news.

The next PM to take up residence was the country’s youngest-ever leader – the 24-year-old William Pitt. He was also the longest-ever resident of Downing Street – bedding down for twenty years between 1783-1801 and 1804-06.

11 Downing Street, Chancellor of the Exchequer

No.11 became the official residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1828, when the surrounding area was filling up with gin-joints and seedy brothels. Crime was so rife, that two prime ministers felt the whistle of an assassin’s bullet – Spencer Perceval and Robert Peel. Robert Peel was lucky, and the gunman got his secretary instead – but Perceval went down and didn’t get up.

For the next fifty years few Prime Ministers felt obliged to live there, and it wasn’t until Benjamin Disraeli took up office in 1877 that another one moved in. He persuaded the State to pay for renovations, and turned it into a house fit for a king. Gladstone carried on his good work – installing telephones and electric lighting.

The next PM had a thing about the place and chose to live somewhere else, but when Balfour moved in with the PM’s first motor car (1902), the place became synonymous with the job. Every Prime Minister since has lived in the confines of Downing’s little cul-de-sac – even Winston Churchill, when the bombs were falling all around.

Security at Downing Street

Long gone are the days when the public could freely wander up and down Downing Street.

There once was a time when people could query their leaders as they came in and out of No.10 – there are famous photos of the Suffragettes, for example, chaining themselves to the Downing Street railings.

That all changed in 1989, when the IRA started bombing London. Margaret Thatcher beefed up the security, and the closest you can get these days is a big iron gate around the corner.

Discuss Downing Street in the forum

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Write your own review…
ian meyer – “the best place to look down downing street is not actually at the gate on whitehall, which is where all the tourist stand take a tip from me because the best place to stand is at the other end of downing street, which is in St jam…”
exile – “i walked odown Whitehall just to have a look and there was nothing there, just a big gate with some policeman standing behind i tried to peer over their shoulders but i didnt really know what i was looking for I saw two business m…”

Drummerboy’s blog – Downing Street

Drummerboy – “I’ve probably been about a million billion times but I’ve never actually managed to see the PM coming out. Not once. The problem is that not only do you have to peer through the big black iron gate over the shoulders of a big burly cop pointing a machine gun at your feet, but you are simultaneously being wedged by ten thousand tourists snapping away at the postman, thinking he’s the Queen. Today I got a bit lucky because a delivery guy came in with a trolley full of parcels, and the cop opened the gate for a few mins so he could come out and shake them. That gave me a better shot of the door than I’ve ever had… continued.”