The Downing Street Chief of Staff is the most senior political appointee in the Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, acting as a senior aide to the Prime Minister and a powerful, non-ministerial position within the British Government. The role of Chief of Staff when created had executive authority and at the time was referred to as "almost certainly the most powerful unelected official in the country", and possibly "the third most powerful altogether" after the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Since 2007 the role does not legally have executive authority, though the post holder remains a very senior adviser to the Prime Minister. The current Downing Street Chief of Staff is Edward Llewellyn.
Read more about Downing Street Chief Of Staff: History, Role, List of Chiefs of Staff
Famous quotes containing the words downing street, downing, street, chief and/or staff:
“My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And now I recommend you to go home and sleep quietly in your beds.”
—Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940)
“The democratic youth ... lives along day by day, gratifying the desire that occurs to him, at one time drinking and listening to the flute, at another downing water and reducing, now practising gymnastic, and again idling and neglecting everything; and sometimes spending his time as though he were occupied in philosophy.”
—Plato (c. 427–347 B.C.)
“The last time I saw Paris
Her heart was warm and gay,
I heard the laughter of her heart in every street café.”
—Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960)
“I have no hesitation in saying that although the American woman never leaves her domestic sphere and is in some respects very dependent within it, nowhere does she enjoy a higher station. And ... if anyone asks me what I think the chief cause of the extraordinary prosperity and growing power of this nation, I should answer that it is due to the superiority of their women.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
“Each one threw down his staff, and they became snakes; but Aaron’s staff swallowed up theirs.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Exodus 7:12.