Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced his resignation in an at times emotional address outside 10 Downing Street this week. The news means the UK will soon have it’s seventh PM in the 10 years since the Brexit referendum. Former Greater Manchester Mayor – and now Labour MP for Makerfield – Andy Burnham looks to be the next to take up the office.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a meeting in 10 Downing Street on Sunday amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
• The St Patrick’s Day parade and celebrations in Trafalgar Square take place this Sunday. The parade, which features Irish CountyAssociations, marching bands, dancers, musicians and carnival performers, kicks off at noon and heads along Piccadilly, through Piccadilly Circus, down Regent Street and then Cockspur Street before ending in the square. In the square, Irish comedian Rachel Galvo will host the main stage where acts will include traditional and contemporary performances from the likes of Irish Culture Centre Hammersmith’s Singing and Reminiscence Choir, Moonlight: The Philip Lynott Enigma, Carrie Baxter, Cór na nÓg Caisleán, Jig and Swig and the London Bodhrán Band, The Wran, Nell Mescal, Huartan, David Keenan and Robert Arkins ‘Commitments’. There’s also a tent hosting comedy, spoken word, music, and Irish film and TV shorts, an exhibition, Irish language lessons, children’s arts and crafts, and the ‘Oldbog Cottage’ experience. Meanwhile, celebrity chef Anna Haugh and The Wee Sister restaurant will be serving Irish dishes while the square will also host a range of stalls offering food, crafts and other Irish delights. For more, see london.gov.uk/events/st-patricks- festival-2026
• George Stubbs’ (1724-1806) monumental portrait of a rearing horse is at the centre of an exhibition which opened at The National Gallery this week. Alongside Scrub, a bay horse belonging to the Marquess of Rockingham (c1762), Stubbs: Portrait of a Horse also features other paintings and works on paper by the artist and visitors can compare the large-scale equine portrait with another of Stubbs’ masterpieces, Whistlejacket (c1762), which is on display nearby in Room 34. The exhibition can be seen in Room 1 until 31st May. Admission is free. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk/.
• People are invited to visit the Banqueting House in Whitehall for a “sneak preview” following a major project to upgrade visitor facilities ahead of its formal reopening this summer. The 400-year-old building boasts a new passenger lift offering step-free access to the main hall, home, of Peter Paul Rubens’ masterpiece ceiling, for the first time while a new heating system has been installed along with a new sustainably sourced English Oak floor. The sneak previews will take place on 20th March, 3rd April, 1st May, 29th May and 26th June ahead of its reopening on 1st August. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/banqueting-house/.
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Earlier…
Lance Corporal James Bell plays the bag pipes in front of the Cenotaph to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Victory in Japan Day on Friday, 15th August. Lance Corporal Bell was one of six military pipers who performed solemn laments across the UK, the Far East, and aboard HMS Prince of Wales at sea, to honour the end of World War II and the sacrifices of the Commonwealth forces.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria Starmer turned on lights on the Christmas tree outside 10 Downing Street on 2nd December. The couple were joined by NHS workers, military personnel and members of the police. The Christmas tree is the winner of a competition run by the British Christmas Tree Growers Association, chosen for showcasing “the finest dedication, craftsmanship and commitment of British Christmas tree growers”. This year’s Nordmann Fir was grown by Evergreen Christmas Trees – a family run business based on the Welsh border who have been growing Christmas trees since 1992. The runner-up in the Christmas tree competition – Cadeby Tree Trust from Warwickshire – have supplied two Christmas trees for inside Downing Street. The wreath for the famous door at Number 10, meanwhile, was provided by Santa Trees, a Christmas tree farm from Cornwall. Lights on London’s most famous Christmas tree – that in Trafalgar Square – are being turned on this Thursday (5th December).
Some 10,000 people lined Whitehall to watch the The Royal British Legion’s Veterans Parade and take part in the annual two-minute silence at the Cenotaph on Sunday…
Now found in the Churchill War Rooms, the original black door from the Prime Minister’s residence at 10 Downing Street dates from the 1770s.
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A famous “ordinary” where meals could be obtained at preset prices, Locket’s was founded by Adam Locket just south of Charing Cross in the 17th century.
A popular meeting place after attending the theatre, the establishment was known for the quality of its food. It was frequented by the well-to-do as well as dramatists like Sir George Etherege (who apparently didn’t pay his bill).
Following Adam Locket’s death in about 1688, he was succeeded by his son Edward who ran it until about 1702. It survived through the reign of Queen Anne but contemporary references – it had been mentioned by writers such as John Vanbrugh and William Congreve – became increasingly scanty and then disappeared altogether after her death in 1714.
Drummond’s Bank later occupied the site where Locket’s had stood.
OK, so there’s not much left to see here – at least not from Wren’s time. But it was in Scotland Yard that Wren spent much of his time after being appointed Surveyor-General of the King’s Works.
The yard, which was located just north of the kitchens serving the Palace of Whitehall and to the south of aristocratic mansions built along the Strand, was the location of the Office of Works. It served as a workplace for Wren and was also the location of his main residence between 1669 and 1718 when he lived in a house built by his predecessor in the office, John Denham.
According to a recent lecture by Professor Simon Thurley at Gresham College, newly identified plans of the house show the ground floor contained a hall, with a kitchen and scullery to the rear while on the first floor was a great dining room, a smaller private dining room, bedroom and dressing room. A floor above contains quarters for servants and possibly the nursery for his children. There were cellars below, two yards and a long narrow walled garden (he also had a stable nearby for his horses and carriage). Most importantly, a door connected the house directly with the Office of Works next door.
Said Thurley: “Although slightly further [from] the royal lodgings than some apartments, Wren’s house was amongst the largest and best appointed of all the houses allocated to senior courtiers.”
Wren lived here with his two wives – his first wife Faith Coghill died of smallpox here in 1675 and his second wife Jane Fitzwilliam died of tuberculosis in 1680 as well as their children – Christopher, William and Elizabeth. Both William and Elizabeth never left their father’s care and died before him.
The origins of the name of Scotland Yard – which has since become synonymous with the Metropolitan Police (now based at New Scotland Yard) – apparently come from the fact the site contained lodgings where the Kings of Scotland stayed when visiting London (the last Scottish royal to stay here did so before Wren’s time, apparently in the reign of King Henry VIII).
From the Stuart period onward, the site was used for government offices – as well as Wren, other famous residents included Inigo Jones, one of Wren’s predecessors as Surveyor of Works, and, during the Commonwealth, John Milton, while serving as Latin Secretary to Oliver Cromwell.
The location of Scotland Yard is these days commemorated in the name of Great Scotland Street and Scotland Place, just off Whitehall. There’s also an English Heritage Blue Plaque marking the site in Whitehall Place, although Wren doesn’t get a mention on that (it’s entirely devoted to the former police presence).
There has been a pub on this storied Whitehall location, located between conveniently for politicians between the Houses of Parliament and Downing Street, since at least the 15th century.
Then named Hopping Hall, a pub is recorded on this site at 48 Parliament Street (on the corner with Derby Gate) as early as 1434. It passed into the hands of the Crown by 1531 and by the early 19th century it had taken on the name of the Red Lion (at the time, it was visited by Charles Dickens as a young man). The current, now Grade II-listed, building was erected on the site in 1890.
The pub’s name – one of the most common in England (there’s several more in London alone) – apparently originated at the ascension of the Scottish King James I to the throne in 1603. The King ordered that all significant buildings display the red heraldic lion of Scotland and that included pubs. Hence the Red Lion.
The four storey pub has been popular among politicians (and journalists interviewing politicians) including Prime Ministers – indeed, it’s claimed to have served every PM up until Edward Heath in the 1970s (as such it’s one of the many pubs in London which features division bells, although the function of these has apparently been replaced by an app).
For more, see www.redlionwestminster.co.uk.
As London swelters, the Troopers of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment conducting the Queen’s Life Guard at Horse Guards take care to ensure their loyal horses are well looked after. That includes a hose off in the shade after duty to help them cool down, bobbing for in the water trough to help ensure they’re drinking enough and providing fans in the stables.
All eyes turned to Whitehall last week with Prime Minister Boris Johnson emerging from 10 Downing Street to announce he would resign. The move has sparking a leadership contest in the Conservative Party which is expected to be complete by 5th September.
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