Britain's new Prime Minister Boris Johnson waves from the steps outside 10 Downing Street. Photo / AP
Britain's new Prime Minister Boris Johnson waves from the steps outside 10 Downing Street. Photo / AP
Is Downing Street set for its first millennial makeover? asks Eleanor Steafel.
A new prime minister always ushers in a new era, not least in the Georgian townhouse of 10 Downing St. It has seen a diverse range of inhabitants over the years.
Johann Caspar Graf von Bothmer — a German adviser to George I and II — was the first politician to take up residency in 1720. He complained about its "ruinous condition", but stayed until his death in 1732.
In 1902, it became the official residence of the prime minister (then Arthur James Balfour), and since then a steady stream of PMs have installed themselves in it.
Churchill is said to have been hugely fond of No10, and grudgingly slept in the hastily converted flat of what was then the New Public Office building at nearby Storey's Gate during World War II.
Tony Blair and David Cameron both chose to live next door at the more spacious, modern No11 — far more suitable for family life.
That is also where Boris Johnson and his girlfriend Carrie Symonds are expected to move into this weekend as outgoing resident Philip Hammond will not be moving his furniture out of the flat before then. Where Sajid Javid, the new Chancellor, his wife Laura and their four children are going to live remains to be seen.
With Johnson and Symonds, the 340-year-old townhouse once again has to reinvent itself. There is no precedent for a "First Girlfriend", let alone a 31-year-old one (other than in Richard Curtis' fictional Love, Actually). But you have to imagine that after 20 years of married, middle-aged prime ministers with young families, and two years of "at home with the Mays" (all very Radio 3 in the kitchen, Strictly on Saturday evenings, and the odd game of bridge over sherry with the Hammonds), the Johnson-Symonds home will be rather different. So what might it look like behind closed doors?
Carrie Symonds the girlfriend of Britain's new Prime Minister Boris Johnson waits in 10 Downing Street. Photo / AP
Prime ministers typically provide many of their own furnishings, aided by public money for upkeep of their living quarters. No10 looks like a relatively modest prime ministerial house from the front. But it hides a rabbit warren of 100 rooms and adjoining buildings behind that terraced-house façade. And who could forget the shots of Sam Cam's kitchen in No11, with its Corian worktop and marble dining table?
Will Symonds want to put her own stamp on their quarters as others have?
They can always escape to their new south London bolt-hole. The couple are said to have bought a £1.3 million (NZ$2.4m) house in Camberwell after moving out of the flat where their well-publicised row was recorded by a neighbour and passed to a newspaper.
Friends described the purchase as a "pragmatic" move because it will enable the couple to stay on the London property ladder so they will have a home to move to when Johnson's time at the top is over.
Tony and Cherie Blair sold their London home when Blair became prime minister, only to see property prices rocket over the next 10 years.
The purchase of the three-storey terraced house is also likely to prompt speculation Symonds wants her own space to retreat to. But will she move all her things into the Camberwell property and treat this new house as her base, or is a full revamp of No11 on the cards?
If so, could Downing St be in for a millennial makeover, complete with the obligatory colour palette of pale pink and teal with brass touches, and an array of houseplants and Scandi furniture?
At the very least, Symonds, who works for environmental advocacy firm Oceana, will surely want to bring their new abode up to scratch with the latest eco-friendly products. Soon Downing St will run on clean energy, and every aide will be drinking oatmilk flat whites from Keep Cups.
The dinner guests
Theirs will surely be among the more glamorous dinner parties to grace Downing St. Symonds has a wide circle of friends from her school days at Godolphin and Latymer in west London, to her days at Warwick University, and years working in and out of government.
Boris Johnson leaves from the rear of 10 Downing Street. Photo / AP
It was her close friend, the campaigner Nimco Ali, who accompanied her through the melee at what was Symonds' first official outing as Johnson's partner at his campaign launch.
Some 24 years his junior, Symonds has been credited with getting Johnson, 55, to cut his hair, lose some weight and wear clothes that look ironed — and her bustling social life must be a change of pace for him.
Described as a "happy extrovert", at her 30th birthday, Symonds was said to have dominated the dance floor, dancing to a soundtrack of Abba hits while Sajid Javid and Michael Gove bopped along at the sidelines.
Johnson, then foreign secretary, is reported to have been seen throwing some more outlandish disco shapes on the floor.
Rather than the quiet evenings in front of the telly with the Mays, Friday nights, then, are sure to become rather more lively affairs with the Johnson-Symonds.
The parties
Samantha Cameron hosted regular receptions for charities and volunteers. Cherie Blair, meanwhile, had her own "social unit" in Downing St, and paid privately for styling and fitness advice from "lifestyle guru" Carole Caplin.
Symonds is likely to want to use the platform to promote her causes. Barbecues with other activists in the garden perhaps? Vegan, of course.
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, centre, holds his first Cabinet meeting. Photo / AP
She was determined not to be a distraction on his first day as Prime Minister, but couldn't resist seeing him make his big speech in Downing St, pictured, for the first time in days to stand with Johnson's staff and cheer him on as he went through the door of No 10 alone. She stood next to Sir Edward Lister, Johnson's chief of staff, in what was seen as a sign of the influence she is likely to wield. She is, it has emerged, to be given her own chief of staff in Downing St, afforded the same sort of help as wives of previous prime ministers, despite being the first unmarried partner to live in the official residence.
Away from Whitehall, will her social life of cocktails and club nights continue? Symonds is known to socialise at Loulou's, the nightclub beneath the £1800-a-year private members' club dining room at 5 Hertford St, Mayfair, considered almost impossible to get into and popular with royals, billionaires and the more elite members of the Eurosceptic crowd.
Dressed to impress
Who knew a pink dress could be so divisive? The reception to Carrie Symonds' outfit for her boyfriend's first speech as Prime Minister ran from outrage to adoration.
"ERM, where is Carrie Symonds's dress from?" some inquired on social media.
"I'm so sorry, but I really like Carrie Symonds' dress," added another.
"Carrie Symonds wore a pink dress — but why the hell do we care?" was Stylist magazine's take on dress-gate.
As sure as night turns into day, so headlines followed declaring that Symonds' £120 ($224) Ghost dress had "sold out within hours". The truth is a little more nuanced; Ghost says the "Luella" style is, in fact, a consistent bestseller, which they create in different prints each season.
So does Britain have a new style muse? Symonds appeared to have had something of a Kate Middleton-makeover for the speech. She'd evidently been paying attention to the basic components of Duchess style, an equation guaranteed to deliver a people-pleasing chic-but-not-too-fashion effect; there's the swooshy blow dry, barely there makeup, a floral midi dress (modest, yet pretty) and suede courts the same shade as her subtly tanned legs. Before those classic courts, her preferred shoe was a walkable Chelsea boot.
It seems that she is already well on her way to having the elevated everywoman thing down pat. It's a look mastered by the Duchess of Cambridge but also Ivanka Trump, Michelle Obama, Samantha Cameron and, to some extent, Amal Clooney.
Symonds may not have the power to change the system, but she might as well use the attention she will inevitably attract for good.
