There have been many changes at Downing Street over the years – and we’re not just talking about the time we had three different Prime Ministers in a matter of months.
In a historic turn of events, Keir Starmer’s Labour Party won the 2024 General Election by a landslide, marking the first time they have been in power for 14 years.
As the next few weeks unfold, there will be lots going on at Number 10, as Rishi Sunak and his family vacate the property to make way for Starmer, his wife Victoria and their two children.
The famous address has been the official residence of the British Prime Minister since 1735, however, not every PM has chosen to live there.
Over the years some have opted to move into the living quarters above the next door Number 11 instead, as the four-bedroom flat there, which is normally the home of the Chancellor, is bigger than Number 10.
This happened most notably in 1997 when Tony Blair took office, and he decided to swap apartments with his Chancellor, Gordon Brown.
David Cameron also decided to move into Number 11 when he was in charge, as did Theresa May and Boris Johnson.
Both homes have seen a number of big interior design changes over the years, with Rishi and wife Akshata Murty making the most recent changes.
A total of £30,000 is available to the prime minister as an annual allowance to be spent on their living quarters, and some have ended up spending much more than this.
Here’s a closer look at how much some of the big refurbishments have cost and what they entailed…
Rishi Sunak – 2022-2024 — total unknown
The Sunaks refurbished Number 10 when they first moved into the flat when Rishi was Chancellor. The price they spent on doing this hasn’t been disclosed, although it is thought to have been substantial, and all covered by the family.
A report by Tatler claimed that the refurb included bringing in ‘exquisite fabrics, including fine damask from Challis Interiors in Richmond’. The same company worked on the family house in Yorkshire.
Upholsterer John Challis told the publication: ‘We made long, fully interlined curtains for all five windows overlooking the garden [at Number 10], hand-pleated and held back with heavy coordinating tassels in red, gold and the ivory of the damask.
‘The ornate cornicing was hand-gilded, as it would have been originally, and a rug was commissioned to almost fill the room. Akshata was very involved and keen to see how things are made. She is also not afraid of getting stuck in and helping either.’
John continued to say that there were ‘opulent’ curtains in entrance areas, window seats in most rooms, and velvet sofas in jewel colours with cushions likened to a ‘work of art’.
He added that the flat had needed an update as it was all ‘very tired’ looking before they moved in.
Boris Johnson, 2019-2022 — £112,000 in total
Boris and his partner Carrie opted to move into Number 11 instead of Number 10 during his turn in office and the pair are known to have had extensive work carried out on the property, costing at least £112,000, although some estimate it to be over £200,000.
This caused controversy, as the figure was much more than the annual public grant of £30,000 the Prime Minister is given to spend on living quarters. The Cabinet Office initially paid for the work, and a large sum of the total was donated by Lord Brownlow to cover the bills.
The Conservative Party was subsequently fined £17,800 after the Electoral Commission found it had failed to accurately declare all of Lord Brownlow’s donations.
Boris has since revealed he’s covered all the costs out of his own pocket.
The refurb was carried out by designer Lulu Lytle and infamously featured £2,260 worth of gold-coloured wallpaper.
A number of furnishing changes were made during their time in the home, as Carrie wasn’t a fan of Theresa May’s previous decor, which she is said to have dubbed a ‘John Lewis furniture nightmare’.
According to The Standard, some of the changes included swapping dark wooden furniture for vintage pieces, stripping and polishing the floor, painting the living room a deep shade of green, and adding lots of decorative touches like candles.
Theresa May, 2016-2019 — £25,534 in total
It’s often reported that Theresa May didn’t spend any money doing up the flat at Number 11, but the Register of Interests shows that she and Philip did, in fact, spend some.
Their total was less than one year’s allowance, and interestingly they spent no money during her second year as PM.
The couple didn’t make any major changes to the property, adding just a few pieces of furniture and decorative items. A photoshoot with The Sunday Times showed off some of their John Lewis pieces, including a £100 chrome table lamp, and there was also a £95 Habitat glass-topped coffee table.
The living room featured a red three-seater sofa, brown throw cushions and a marble fireplace.
David Cameron, 2010-2016 — £92,931 in total
David and Samantha Cameron are said to have undertaken a complete redecoration of Number 11 when they moved in 14 years ago, creating a more modern and minimalist home for their family of six.
During their time there, they spent more than the annual allowance, but they paid the extra out of their own pockets.
The flat was painted white throughout, apart from the grand staircase which was painted black to add drama to the entrance of the home.
Family photos were hung all around, new carpet was laid downstairs, and the bathrooms and kitchens were redone.
Floating brushed steel shelves and dark grey cupboards were added into the kitchen, along with a £3,400 Britannia range cooker, a Dualit toaster and Rancilio coffee machine. But it wasn’t all expensive goods, with some IKEA pieces thrown into the mix, and affordable cookware from John Lewis.
Elsewhere in the house, the family had a mustard yellow velvet two-seater sofa in their living room, which Samantha and Michelle Obama were photographed sitting on. The Fancy Nancy sofa is thought to have been custom covered and cost £1,431 from Sofa Workshop.
Gordon Brown, 2007-2010 — £84,622 in total
Gordon moved into Number 11 with his wife Sarah and their two sons in 2007. They’d previously been living in Number 10 during Blair’s term, where he lived for a full decade, from 1997 onward.
The family didn’t go over the £30,000 allowance during their time at Number 11, and didn’t make any big changes to the property.
Tony Blair, 1997-2007 — £127,000 in total
Tony Blair was the first Prime Minister to decide to swap Number 10 for Number 11, due to needing more space for his bigger family – he and wife Cherie have four children, Euan, Nicky, Kathryn, and Leo.
At the time of their move, Number 11 hadn’t been redecorated since the 1960s, meaning it was in need of some updates and TLC.
Tony famously is quoted as saying: ‘I won’t sleep in Ken Clarke’s bed’ after the former Chancellor moved out and he moved in.
The couple did indeed buy a new bed for the place, and made some other big changes, reportedly spending £127,000 on the project.
As well as a new bed, they added wallpaper which cost £70 a roll, a mirrored exercise room (which Cameron later removed), a new kitchen, new carpets, custom bookcases for Cherie’s home office, and new artwork.
There was a lot of controversy over the Blair’s updates at the time, as rumours suggested the couple were spending a jaw-dropping £850,000 on the makeover. A Downing Street spokesperson quickly squashed this though, saying that it wasn’t the case and that the number had been ‘plucked from the air’.
Margaret Thatcher, 1979-1990 — £1,736 in total
Thatcher was Number 10’s longest twentieth-century resident, living there between the years 1979 and 1990.
Not only did she rule the country with an iron fist, Thatcher also ran her household with a pretty tight grip, in typical post-war fashion. Government papers from 1979 – released by the National Archives in 2011 – offered a breakdown of her refurbishment costs, which apparently totalled to just £1,736.
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The expenditures included £464 for replacing linen and pillows and £209 for replacing crockery. Also listed was a £19 ironing board, which the Prime Minister insisted on paying for herself.
In her own hand, Thatcher scribbled on the document: ‘We use only one bedroom. Can the rest go back into store. I will pay for the ironing board.’ She also offered to pay for the linens herself.
Later on, in a far less frugal move, she moved into a £23million six-bedroom apartment in Belgravia’s Eaton Square, that was once the home to three-time Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin.
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For a few days, she also occupied one of London’s most exclusive and enigmatic postcodes: The Albany in Piccadilly. Tucked away in a quiet side street, not too far from Fortnum and Mason’s, the imposing Georgian complex has housed the likes of Edward Heath, William Lamb and William Gladstone.
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