December 25 approaches. Thoughts turn toward opening presents on Christmas morning, tucking into a traditional Turkey dinner, eating chocolate and sipping sherry, with eyes and ears ready to tune in to the King's first Christmas address to the nation, following the death of Her Majesty the Queen earlier in the year. However, after a busy year in Parliament, many may wonder what the prime minister actually does during the festive season.
Traditionally, British prime ministers have spent Christmas at the Chequers Estate, which has served as the official country residence of the UK premier since 1921. This will be where Rishi Sunak will be heading to spend December 25 for the first time under his premiership, following a busy year which saw him fight two Tory leadership contests before getting the top job, travel to the COP27 climate change summit in Egypt, and helped co-ordinate the continued government response to the cost-of-living crisis and conflict in Ukraine.
Chequers sits in 1,000 acres of countryside in the county of Buckinghamshire and is generally used throughout the year as a weekend retreat for the incumbent British leader.
Situated 41 miles from Downing Street, it is an ideal getaway from the capital city and a glamorous venue for hosting diplomats and other high-profile visitors from abroad.
The estate has been under government ownership since the First World War. Prior to this, it was assumed that prime ministers would come from wealthy backgrounds and as a result would own their own country residences. However, the changing social dynamics of the day meant that this could no longer be understood to be the norm.
So then came The Chequers Estate Act of 1917: its then owners, Conservative peer Sir Arthur Lee and his wife, Ruth, signed the property over to the government to be used by the incumbent prime minister.
Indeed, a stained glass window at the estate is now adorned with the description: “This house of peace and ancient memories was given to England as a thank-offering for her deliverance in the great war of 1914–1918 as a place of rest and recreation for her prime ministers for ever.”
The estate was fully renovated and adorned with fine art, luxury furniture and relics, with David Lloyd George the first prime minister to use it as his own from 1921.
For some prime ministers, Chequers became more than a weekend retreat. During Margaret Thatcher’s term, the whole Thatcher family resided there throughout the Iron Lady’s 11-year premiership.
Up to now, only Gordon Brown has really diverged from the tradition of prime ministers using Chequers for personal reasons, opting instead to reserve the estate’s usage for official state business such as hosting summits.
Had former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s general election campaign proved successful three years ago, it would have cast doubt on the immediate future of Chequers as an exclusively prime ministerial privilege. The Islington North MP had promised in the lead-up to December 12 that he would hand the keys of the estate over to a homeless family if he were to be elected to Number 10.
However, after Boris Johnson’s Conservatives secured a commanding majority in the last general election, the tradition has continued in earnest.
