Your chance to tour garden of Number 10 Downing Street: Where Churchill relaxed ... trends now
With its L-shaped lawn and rose beds commissioned by Margaret Thatcher, the garden at Number 10 Downing Street has played host to some historic moments.
In recent years, they have ranged from David Cameron's love-in with Nick Clegg in 2010 to Dominic Cummings' defiance after his lockdown drive to Durham.
Now, ordinary Britons have the chance to tour the garden, which dates back in its current form to 1736.
The tour is being run as part of the London Open Gardens weekend, during which more than 100 normally private gardens will open their doors.
During the Second World War, prime minister Winston Churchill had brief moments of respite in the garden as Britain fought against Nazi Germany.
With its L-shaped lawn and rose beds commissioned by Margaret Thatcher, the garden at Number 10 Downing Street has played host to some historic moments. Above: David Cameron's love-in with Nick Clegg when the pair launched the Coalition in 2010
During the Second World War, prime minister Winston Churchill had brief moments of respite in the garden at Number 10 Downing Street as Britain fought against Nazi Germany. Above: Sir Winston in the garden in 1943
In 1952, during Churchill's second term as PM, his deputy Anthony Eden posed with his new wife Clarissa - his boss's niece - in the garden on their wedding day.
In 1991, an IRA mortar bomb that was fired from a white transit van exploded in the garden just a few yards away from where then prime minister John Major was chairing a cabinet meeting.
The explosion left a crater and blew in the windows of the neighbouring houses.
In 1995, the nation's media were summoned to a press conference in the garden and watched as Sir John resigned as Tory leader so he could run for re-election to silence his critics.
He famously told his political enemies to 'put up or shut up' - and the ploy worked as he beat rebel John Redwood in a vote among MPs and so remained as leader and PM.
In 1997, new prime minister Tony Blair enjoyed a friendly press conference with US president Bill Clinton in the garden.
In 2010, David Cameron and then Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg launched the first peacetime coalition government since the 1930s in the half-acre space.
The pair looked relaxed in each other's company as they held an open-air press conference.
In May 2020, Dominic Cummings - who was chief adviser to then PM Boris Johnson - held a hastily arranged press conference in the Downing Street garden to field questions about the furore generated by his 260-mile drive to Durham during the coronavirus lockdown
