Downing Street's media briefing room has been refurbished. (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir Starmer has held his first press conference in the newly refurbished Downing Street briefing room after spending ￡80,000 of taxpayers’ money on stripping all traces of Tory blue.
The room, in 9 Downing Street, was redecorated in December. Its blue boards, banished, partially covered the wood panelling behind the lectern. The Prime Minister used the room on Tuesday morning to make his statement on the Southport atrocity.
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A Government crest was fitted on the wall behind the Prime Minister’s podium ahead of Sir Keir’s statement. The blue panels surrounding the TV screen have been replaced by grey ones, and the carpet colour has also been swapped.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman described the changes as a “one-off refresh” “to restore the room to a politically neutral setting”.
“The panelling restores the room back to its original state,” the spokesman said. “The cost is obviously a fraction of what the previous administration spent on the room.”
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The carpet is now grey, as well as the panelling behind the TV. (Image: Getty)
It is understood the cost of the revamp amounted to around ￡80,000.
Under Mr Johnson’s premiership, the room’s original fittings cost a staggering ￡2.6 million. A Freedom of Information Act revealed that the main work of refurbishment cost ￡1.8 million, with additional costs then added for ‘long-lead items’ and ‘broadband equipment’.
The Cabinet Office justified this at the time, stating that it was in the “public interest,” increasing “public accountability and transparency.”
Despite the room’s creation, the initial intention never came to fruition.
The infamous media room garnered attention in 2021 following the emergence of a video revealing staff from No.10 discussing Christmas parties.
The leaked footage showed Allegra Startton rehearsing for daily televised media briefings. One potential question was whether a Christmas party at Downing Street had been appropriate during Covid restrictions.
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The media room before Labour's renovations. (Image: Getty)
Following this, the daily briefings did not go ahead.
After the total cost of the room was revealed, Angela Rayner strongly criticised the Tories' expenditure. The now deputy prime minister compared the then government’s spending to the proposed 1% pay rise for NHS nurses.
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"It would take around 100 years for a newly qualified nurse to get paid this kind of money," she said.
"It sums up Boris Johnson's warped priorities that he can find millions for vanity projects while picking the pockets of NHS workers."
Ms Rayner added: "Our NHS heroes deserve a fair pay rise after all they have done for us."