Chequers: The country retreat that has seen many historic moments in politics
As rumours continue about plots to oust Prime Minister Liz Truss, she is meeting her new Chancellor at the countryside retreat once described by a predecessor as “a good place for thinking – away from London”.
Ms Truss and Jeremy Hunt are meeting at Chequers on Sunday, amid the ongoing political and economic turmoil that has gripped the Conservative Party and the country in recent weeks.
The house and its 1,000-acre estate in the Chilterns was gifted a century ago to whoever holds the office of prime minister as a retreat from the bustle of Downing Street.
Bequeathed to the nation in 1917 by Sir Arthur Lee, an MP and director-general of food production, Lloyd George became its first prime ministerial occupant in 1921.
As set out in the Chequers Estate Act 1917, it was hoped to draw the sitting PM to “spend two days a week in the high and pure air of the Chiltern hills and woods”.
The thinking behind that being “the better the health of our rulers, the more sanely will they rule”.
The site is no stranger to historic moments.
Sir Winston Churchill is known to have written some of his most famous radio speeches during the Second World War in the mansion’s Hawtrey room.
The estate was used by Theresa May as the location for a crunch 2018 Cabinet meeting to agree her new Brexit proposals, but in the following days senior ministers including then foreign secretary Boris Johnson resigned in disagreement over the plans.
In 2020, as PM, Mr Johnson went to Chequers to recuperate as he recovered from coronavirus.
He was reunited with his then-pregnant fiancee Carrie Symonds to spend time at the 16th century Buckinghamshire mansion, following a seven-night spell in hospital during which he said “things could have gone either way”.
The couple originally planned to throw their wedding party at Chequers and were said to have sent out save-the-date cards for a celebration on July 30 2022, before deciding to change location to Daylesford House – a grand Cotswolds estate of a major Tory donor.
Inside Chequers, photographic portraits of all the British prime ministers who have used the residence are on display in the Great Parlour.
During a visit in 2015, then prime minister David Cameron told French president Francois Hollande that Chequers is “a good place for thinking – away from London”.
Visitors over the years have ranged from the Queen, to foreign leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, and celebrities including Sir Elton John, Bryan Adams and David Bowie.
Since-disgraced television star Jimmy Savile made a number of visits while Margaret Thatcher was prime minister, and once claimed he spent 11 consecutive Christmases at Chequers.
It is run and managed by an independent trust and is maintained by an endowment administered by the trustees.
