BBC Radio 4 LW

Day One in Number 10

Day One in Number 10: Episode 2

Episode 2

BBC Radio 4 - Day One in Number 10, Episode 2

What awaits a Prime Minister once he has walked through the black door of Number Ten?

What happens on a prime minister's first day in Number 10? Peter Hennessy talks to people who have been there alongside new prime ministers, from Anthony Eden to David Cameron.

What happens on a Prime Minister's first day in Number Ten? Who does he see? What decisions await him? What is everyone else in Number Ten doing? In Part 2 of Day One in Number Ten, Peter Hennessy speaks to people close to this change of government, on how it has gone, and what lessons we might learn.

And he hears what happens in Number Ten after the first few, frantic hours. What is in the first briefings on foreign and defence policy? How do you make successful institutional change at the heart of government? And what if you are hit by an immediate crisis - caused by terror or industrial action? 

Peter also discusses, with those who have been there over the years, the difficult personal aspect to this rapid change at the top. A joyful Day One for the new PM can also be a painful final day for the person who has just lost their job, and potentially for the civil servants who have worked closely with them for many years.

Producer: Giles Edwards.

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Peter Hennessy hears what happens on a prime minister's first day in Number 10

Peter Hennessy speaks to people who have been there alongside new prime ministers from Anthony Eden to David Cameron, to hear what happens on a prime minister's first day in Number 10

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