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. It arrives near the end of November and is lit in early December for a live BBC News programme. [1] [2]
The tradition began in 1982 while Margaret Thatcher was in office. [3] Members of the British Christmas Tree Growers Association take part in an annual competition for "growth of the year" and "champion festive wreath" and winners provide their trees and wreaths for display outside No.10 Downing Street. All entries are judged by fellow growers around two months before Christmas day in various categories. The winning tree must be 18 and a half feet tall (5.6 metres). [4]
The tree is ceremonionally lit by the prime minister and his or her spouse, who usually say a few words first. The event is attended by various guests such as staff members, charity volunteers, British Armed Forces and their families, who sing Christmas carols afterward. [5]
In 2012, David Cameron asked finalists from The X Factor to assist him in the lighting. [6] In 2008, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's wife Sarah hit the lights with the help of Cub Scouts and Beaver Scouts. [7]
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 Sir George Downing.
Theresa Mary, Lady May is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She served as Home Secretary from 2010 to 2016 in the Cameron government and has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidenhead in Berkshire since 1997. Ideologically, May identifies herself as a one-nation conservative.
11 Downing Street is the official residence of Britain's 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.
Christmas lights are lights often used for decoration in celebration of Christmas, often on display throughout the Christmas season including Advent and Christmastide. The custom goes back to when Christmas trees were decorated with candles, which symbolized Christ being the light of the world. The Christmas trees were brought by Christians into their homes in early modern Germany.
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.
A Christmas decoration is any of several types of ornamentation used at Christmastide and the greater holiday season. The traditional colors of Christmas are pine green (evergreen), snow white, and heart red. Gold and silver are also very common, as are other metallic colours. Typical images on Christmas decorations include Baby Jesus, Father Christmas, Santa Claus, and the star of Bethlehem.
The British Christmas Tree Growers Association is the trade association for those who grow specialist Christmas Trees in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Membership is open to those who intend to grow or are growing trees for the Christmas market. Associate membership is available for those who provide goods and services to the Christmas Tree sector.
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.
The National Christmas Tree is a large evergreen tree located in the northeast quadrant of the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, D.C. Each year since 1923, the tree has been decorated as a Christmas tree. Every year, early in December, the tree is traditionally lit by the President and First Lady of the United States. Every president since Franklin D. Roosevelt has also made formal remarks during the tree lighting ceremony.
Sir Thomas Whinfield Scholar is a British civil servant who served as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury until 8 September 2022. Scholar was previously the Prime Minister's Adviser on European and Global Issues in the Cabinet Office from 2013 to 2016.
The Mount Ingino Christmas Tree is a lighting illumination in the shape of a Christmas tree that is installed annually on the slopes of Mount Ingino outside the city of Gubbio, in the Umbria region in Italy. The tree is also called the Gubbio Christmas Tree or the biggest Christmas tree in the world. In 1991 the Guinness Book of Records named it "The World's Largest Christmas Tree".
Jeremy John Heywood, Baron Heywood of Whitehall, was a British civil servant who served as Cabinet Secretary to David Cameron and Theresa May from 2012 to 2018 and Head of the Home Civil Service from 2014 to 2018. He served as the Principal Private Secretary to Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown from 1999 to 2003 and 2008 to 2010. He also served as Downing Street Chief of Staff and the first Downing Street Permanent Secretary. After he was diagnosed with lung cancer, he took a leave of absence from June 2018, and retired on health grounds on 24 October 2018, receiving a life peerage; he died two weeks later on 4 November 2018.
Larry is a domestic cat who serves as Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom at 10 Downing Street, having been appointed in 2011. He is a brown-and-white tabby, believed to have been born in January 2007. By July 2016, when Theresa May became Prime Minister, he had developed a reputation of being "violent" in his interactions with other local mousers, especially the Foreign Office's much younger cat, Palmerston.
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.
Simon Case is a British civil servant who is the current Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service since 9 September 2020, succeeding Sir Mark Sedwill.
James Slack is a British political advisor and journalist who served as Downing Street Director of Communications for Prime Minister Boris Johnson between January and March 2021.
The Prime Minister's New Year Message in the United Kingdom is an annual speech made by the Prime Minister for the start of a new year. It is traditionally released around New Year's Eve and Hogmanay throughout Britain, consisting of a speech which is a few minutes long and usually contains reflections upon what has taken place throughout the previous year. This is then followed by a government-backed preview of what can be expected in the coming new year and the current political state of the nation. Beyond politics, the message also includes sentiments and achievements from throughout the year, and national events that have taken place.
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 powers of the prime minister of the United Kingdom come from several sources of the UK constitution, including both statute and constitutional convention, but not one single authoritative document. They have been described as "...problematic to outline definitively."
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