Editing Chancellor of the Exchequer (section)

==Perquisites of the office==

===Official residence===
The chancellor of the Exchequer has no official London residence as such but since 1828 in their role as Second Lord of the Treasury they live in the second lord's official residence, No. [[11 Downing Street]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Number 11 Downing Street |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/history/11-downing-street |access-date=16 October 2014 |publisher=UK Government}}</ref> In 1997, the then first and second Lords, [[Tony Blair]] and [[Gordon Brown]] respectively, swapped apartments, as the chancellor's larger apartment in No. 11 better accommodated Blair's substantial family (besides himself and his wife, he had three children under 18 upon taking office, and a fourth was born in 2000); meanwhile, Brown was then unmarried and had no children.

===Dorneywood===
{{Main|Dorneywood}}

Dorneywood is the summer residence that is traditionally made available to the chancellor, though it is the prime minister who ultimately decides who may use it. [[Gordon Brown]], on becoming chancellor in 1997, refused to use it and the house, which is set in {{convert|215|acre|ha}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Local History |url=http://www.burnhamparish.gov.uk/local_history.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001081608/http://www.burnhamparish.gov.uk/local_history.htm |archive-date=1 October 2011 |publisher=Burnham Parish Council }}</ref> of parkland, was allocated to [[Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Deputy Prime Minister]] [[John Prescott]]. In 2007, it reverted to the then-chancellor, [[Alistair Darling]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article2532776.ece|title=Reluctant Chancellor makes a move to keep his mansion out of reach|access-date=24 March 2010|archive-date=5 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605000042/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article2532776.ece|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Budget box===
[[File:Cropped Gladstone's Red Box.jpg|thumb|right|Budget box or Gladstone box, {{circa}} 1860]]
The chancellor traditionally carries their [[Budget Day|budget speech]] to the House of Commons in a particular [[Red box (government)|red despatch box]].  The so-called 'Budget Box' is identical to the cases used by all other government ministers (known as ministerial boxes or "despatch boxes") to transport their official papers, but is better known because the chancellor traditionally displays the box, containing the budget speech, to the press before leaving 11 Downing Street for the House of Commons.

The original budget box was first used by [[William Ewart Gladstone]] in 1853 and continued in use until 1965 when [[James Callaghan]] was the first chancellor to break with tradition when he used a newer box. Prior to Gladstone, a generic red despatch box of varying design and specification was used. The practice is said to have begun in the late 16th century, when Queen [[Elizabeth I]]'s representative [[Francis Throckmorton]] presented the Spanish Ambassador, [[Bernardino de Mendoza]], with a specially constructed red briefcase filled with [[black pudding]]s.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/uk-news/what-budget-box-red-21981804|title=What is the Budget Box? Why is it red?|date=27 October 2021|newspaper=Birmingham Mail|access-date=4 February 2022}}</ref>

In July 1997, Gordon Brown became the second chancellor to use a new box for the Budget. Made by industrial trainees at Babcock Rosyth Defence Ltd ship and submarine dockyard in Fife, the new box is made of yellow pine, with a brass handle and lock, covered in scarlet leather and embossed with the Royal cypher and crest and the chancellor's title. In his [[2007 United Kingdom budget|first Budget]], in March 2008, Alistair Darling reverted to using the original budget box and his successor, George Osborne, continued this tradition for his first budget, before announcing that it would be retired due to its fragile condition.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/mar/21/budget-chancellors-red-box|title=Bye-bye budget box, hello backpack|date=21 March 2011|website=The Guardian}}</ref> The key to the original budget box has been lost.<ref>{{cite book |first=Alistair |last=Darling |title=Back from the Brink |year=2011}}</ref>

===Budget tipple===
By tradition, the chancellor has been allowed to drink whatever they wish while making the annual budget speech to Parliament. This includes alcohol, which is otherwise banned under parliamentary rules.

Previous chancellors have opted for whisky ([[Kenneth Clarke]]), gin and tonic ([[Geoffrey Howe]]), brandy and water ([[Benjamin Disraeli]] and [[John Major]]), spritzer ([[Nigel Lawson]]) and sherry and beaten egg ([[William Gladstone]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Budget and Parliament |url=https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/role/check-and-approve-government-spending-and-taxation/the-budget-and-parliament/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |website=www.parliament.uk |language=en}}</ref>

The chancellors after Clarke, [[Philip Hammond]], [[George Osborne]], [[Alistair Darling]] and [[Gordon Brown]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lydall |first=Ross |date=6 March 2008 |title=Chancellor names his preferred Budget tipple&nbsp;– a glass of plain London tap water |work=The Scotsman |url=http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/politics/Chancellor--names-his-preferred.3848558.jp |access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref> opted for water. In fact Darling drank what was named "Standard Water" in reference to, and support of, the London ''Evening Standard'' newspaper's campaign to have plain tap water available in restaurants at no charge to customers.<ref name="test">{{Cite web |last=Murphy |first=Joe |date=5 March 2008 |title=Darling chooses tap water for Budget Day to support Standard campaign |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/darling-chooses-tap-water-for-budget-day-to-support-standard-campaign-6636142.html |access-date=9 February 2012 |website=London Evening Standard}}</ref>

===Robe of office===
The chancellor, as [[Master of the Mint]], has a robe of office,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/november-sir-john-anderson-the-chancellor-of-the-exchequer-news-photo/79028205|title=November, 1943. Sir John Anderson, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, wearing traditional robes and holding his red budget box. |website=Getty Images |access-date=18 February 2015|archive-date=18 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218121135/http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/november-sir-john-anderson-the-chancellor-of-the-exchequer-news-photo/79028205|url-status=dead}}</ref> similar to that of the lord chancellor (as seen in several of the portraits depicted below). In recent times, it has only regularly been worn at [[Coronation of the British monarch|coronations]], but some chancellors (at least until the 1990s) have also worn it when attending the [[Trial of the Pyx]] as Master of the Mint. According to George Osborne, the robe (dating from Gladstone's time in office, and worn by the likes of [[Lloyd George]] and [[Churchill]])<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nttreasurehunt.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/politics-roses-and-butterflies/getmedia-2/|title=Portrait of Churchill in the robes of wearing his robes as Chancellor of the Exchequer, by John Singer Sargent, 1929. © National Trust Collections|date=4 December 2012}}</ref> 'went missing' during Gordon Brown's time as chancellor.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vina |first=Gonzalo |date=10 December 2010 |title=www.bloomberg.com |work=Bloomberg |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2010-12-10/iconic-red-budget-box-has-been-locked-and-empty-for-years-osborne-says}}</ref>