10 Downing Street features
H&P is working in partnership with the Prime Minister's Office to revitalise the history content of the Number 10 Downing Street website.
In a project launched in February 2012, historians from the H&P Network have been delving behind the famous front door of Number 10 Downing Street to bring to life the fascinating history of the house in a dynamic new history section for the Number 10 website.
Lively new biographies of previous Prime Ministers, an exciting monthly feature by expert historians and fresh content on the history of Downing Street itself are among the new features. H&P will be working with Number 10 throughout 2012 to publish more new material.
For the full story, read the H&P news release [PDF file].
Go to the Number 10 website to read articles by historians and biographies of past Prime Ministers.
Latest features
Disraeli's flowery legacy
26 April 2013
Benjamin Disraeli's coffin was lowered to the ground 132 years ago today - among the floral tributes, a primrose wreath from Queen Victoria. In the latest article for the Downing Street website, Tom Crewe, of Cambridge University, considers 'the unusual bond' forged between Prime Minister and sovereign - and Disraeli's primrose legacy catalysed by Victoria.
Read the article: Disraeli's flowery legacy
The Aberdeen Coalition
23 January 2013
Oxford University Professor of Modern History, Angus Hawkins, examines the Aberdeen Coalition of 1852-55, a 'tessellated pavement' of Whigs, Liberals, Peelites and one Radical. With the exception of Gladstone's 1853 Budget, the Coalition proved a political disappointment. Yet it foreshadowed the merging of political elements which led to the foundation of the parliamentary Liberal Party in 1859.
Read the article: The Aberdeen Coalition
The first royal Christmas broadcast
20 December 2012
Matthew Glencross considers the role of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and the BBC in encouraging a reluctant George V to broadcast the first personal message by a British monarch at Christmas - and to make it an annual tradition, uninterrupted for 80 years.
Read the article: The first Christmas speech - 80 years on
Prime Ministers and their Foreign Secretaries
28 November 2012
From Lord Liverpool and Lord Castlereagh to Clement Attlee and Ernest Bevin, Professor John Bew examines what lies behind a good working relationship between a Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary in the latest article for the No. 10 Downing Street website. Prof Bew, Reader in History and Foreign Policy at the War Studies Department, King's College London, offers revealing insights into this complex and sometimes fractious relationship.
Read the article: Prime Ministers and their Foreign Secretaries
Margaret Thatcher and the Joint Intelligence Committee
30 August 2012
Ian B. Beesley, Official Historian in the Cabinet Office, and Michael S. Goodman, of the War Studies Department, King's College London, explore Margaret Thatcher's interest in intelligence gathering, from becoming the first Prime Minister to attend the Joint Intelligence Committee, to the fall-out from the surprise invasion of the Falkland Islands.
Read the article: Margaret Thatcher and the Joint Intelligence Committee
Prime Ministers and the Olympic Games
26 July 2012
In H&P's latest article for the No. 10 website, Plymouth University historian Kevin Jefferys discusses the changing relationship between Prime Ministers and the Olympic Games, from Herbert Asquith's hands-off approach to the 1908 London Games to David Cameron's hands-on approach today.
Read the article: Prime Ministers and the Olympic Games
Queen Elizabeth and her Twelve Prime Ministers
1 June 2012
Friendliness not friendship was James Callaghan's perception of what the Queen provided to her Prime Ministers. In the latest article for the No. 10 Downing Street website, published today, D R Thorpe considers the different working relations between the Queen and successive Prime Ministers, from Churchill to Cameron, in her 60-year reign.
Read D R Thorpe's article: Queen Elizabeth and her Twelve Prime Ministers
No. 10 under Lloyd George
25 May 2012
Kenneth O. Morgan considers the personal and the political in David Lloyd George's leadership of the Conservative-Liberal Coalition Government of 1916-1922. Published today on the No. 10 Downing Street website, this article is part of the monthly series arising from the H&P partnership with No. 10 to revitalize the history content of the Downing Street website.
Read Lord Morgan's article: No. 10 Under Lloyd George, 1916-1922
Maurice Hankey: 'supreme organiser and creative bureaucrat'
18 April 2012
Jock Gardner's new article for the No. 10 Downing Street website considers the role of military officer-turned-Cabinet Secretary, Maurice Hankey (1877-1963), architect of the Cabinet Office in modern British government. This article is the latest in a series arising from the partnership between H&P and No. 10 to revitalize the history content of the Downing Street website.
Read Jock Gardner's article: Maurice Hankey: architect of modern government
Prime Ministers and Presidents: special relationships
14 March 2012
David Reynolds' new article for the No. 10 Downing Street website explores the personal dimensions of relations between British Prime Ministers and American Presidents, including Churchill and Roosevelt, Macmillan and Kennedy, and Thatcher and Reagan. The article - part of a monthly series by expert historians - arises from the new collaboration between H&P and the Prime Minister's Office, which is designed to bring to life the fascinating history behind the famous black door. As well as featuring in the official No. 10 newsletter, Reynolds' article is highlighted by the White House blog, as David Cameron visits the US.
Read David Reynolds' article: Prime Ministers and Presidents: special relationships
Read the White House blog: Preparing for an Official Visit from the United Kingdom
History & Policy helps historians to the heart of government
2 February 2012
Historians from the H&P Network have been delving behind the famous front door of Number 10 Downing Street to bring to life the fascinating history of the house in a dynamic new history section for the Number 10 website. Lively new biographies of previous Prime Ministers, an exciting monthly feature by expert historians and fresh content on the history of Downing Street itself are among the features launched today. H&P will be working with Number 10 throughout 2012 to publish more new material.
For the full story, read the H&P news release
Read Andrew Blick and George Jones' articles on: The Cabinet Secretary: a tale of three roles and The Institution of Prime Minister
Read Kevin Theakston's article on: Former Prime Ministers
Scroll through the past Prime Ministers section to read Andrew Thompson's new biography of Robert Walpole.