Designed to make the prime minister appear more presidential, the defunct Downing Street briefing room highlights Boris Johnson's insecurity, says Owen Hopkins.
The curtain came down before it was even raised on the Downing Street media briefing room as we learned this week that the government had abandoned its plans for White House-style press briefings.
We got our first glimpse of the much-heralded briefing room last month in photos leaked, somewhat ironically given the room's official status, to ITV News. Underwhelming didn't do justice to the astonishing mediocrity on show: more low-budget trade show than projection of governmental power.
Cheap stackable chairs, office-style raised floor, scraggy grey carpet tiles ? the tackiness was all-consuming. What's more, the room's designers made the schoolboy error of putting a blue fabric screen behind the speaker ? an absolute gift to meme artists. Cheap stackable chairs, office-style raised floor, scraggy grey carpet tiles ? the tackiness was all-consuming
Predictably social media was merciless with jokes and parodies, but also genuine astonishment that all of this had cost a whopping £2.6 million.
Of course, it's not cheap doing anything in a Grade I-listed building. Most of the sophisticated lighting, sound and network capabilities necessary for such a room are hidden. And the leaked images certainly didn't do it any favours. In one, a Henry vacuum cleaner appears discarded, leaning up against the wall, its famous frien...