Which prime minister spent the most on their Downing Street flat?

Flat spin

Which prime minister spent the most on their Downing Street flat, according to figures reported over the years?

Margaret Thatcher £0 (Kept 1960s kitchen. Is reputed to have paid for her own ironing board)

Tony Blair £127,000 spent on larger flat above No. 11 (including wallpaper reputed to have cost £70 a roll)

Gordon Brown £84,000

David Cameron £92,900 (with £64,000 spent on kitchen and bathroom)

Theresa May £25,500

Boris Johnson Between £88,000 and £200,000 (according to various reports)

Most popular

Rod Liddle

Sack the judges

But all were eclipsed by the £650,000 of public money spent by former Lord Chancellor Derry Irvine on his flat in the Lords, including £59,000 of wallpaper.

Local voting

How many people bother turning out for local elections even when there isn’t a pandemic on?

2019 37% (coincided with European elections)

2018 35%

2017 35%

2016 34%

2015 66% (Overall turnout includes for general election held on same day. Specific turnout for local elections was given as 20 million out of an electorate of 31.5 million, i.e. 63.5%)

2014 36%

Source: Electoral Commission

In the round

A retractable floor is to be installed at the Colosseum in Rome. How did it compare with a modern stadium?

— According to records of the time it could seat 87,000 spectators, just 3,000 fewer than the present Wembley stadium. Seats were 40cm wide, compared with 50cm in the new Wembley.

— The population of Rome at the time was 300,000 adults. If Wembley were to hold as high a proportion of Greater London it would need more than 2 million seats.

— Modelling suggests it could be emptied as quickly as the best modern stadiums.

Less travelled?

Have transport numbers nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels? Trips made at the end of April (and in April last year), compared with normal levels:

Car journeys 93% (39%)

National rail 34% (4%)

Tube 37% (5%)

Vans 107% (48%)

Source: DFT