Editing Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms

{{short description|UK government facility for crisis meetings }}
{{Use British English|date=July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox room
| name      = Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms
| image     = File:UK Cabinet Office Briefing Room (COBR) Logo.png
| caption   = 
| location  = [[Cabinet Office]], 70 [[Whitehall]], [[London]]
| country   = United Kingdom
| building  = 
| purpose   = [[Crisis management]] centre
}}
The '''Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms''' ('''COBR''') are meeting rooms in the [[Cabinet Office]] in London. These rooms are used for committees which co-ordinate the actions of [[Government of the United Kingdom|government]] bodies in response to national or regional crises, or during overseas events with major implications for the UK. It is sometimes referred to as '''COBRA'''.

== The facility ==
The Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms are a group of meeting rooms in the [[Cabinet Office]] at 70 Whitehall in London, often used for different committees which co-ordinate the actions of bodies within the [[Government of the United Kingdom]] in response to instances of national or regional crisis, or during events abroad with major implications for the UK. It is occasionally, but not officially, referred to as COBRA,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmhaff/117/117i.pdf | title=The Home Office's Response to Terrorist Attacks   | work=The Stationery Office | date=26 January 2010 | access-date=25 February 2020| location=London |at= p.&nbsp;5 chapter 2 |quote=COBRA is '''not''' an officially recognised term and will therefore not be found in official documents and evidence.}}</ref> even when the acronym is spelt out by officials.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18958032 | title=London 2012: What exactly is a Cobra meeting? | work=[[BBC News]] | date=23 July 2012 | access-date=25 February 2020| first=Chris|last=Mason|author-link=Chris Mason (journalist)|quote='It sounds great but it stands for '''Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms''', so it's rather mundane,' reflects Lord O'Donnell.}}</ref>

Other meeting rooms in the Cabinet Office are not part of the COBR facility, including the old Treasury Board Room, which is labelled "Conference Room A", located in [[Cockpit-in-Court|Kent's Treasury]], a different part of the [[Cabinet Office building]].<ref name=ico2>{{cite news | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/one-room-nine-politicians-britains-future-on-the-table-2107141.html | title=One Room Nine Politicians | work=The Independent | date=15 October 2010 | access-date=18 December 2019 | location=London}}</ref>

[[File:Cabinet Office Briefing Room.jpg|thumb|Released in 2010 under the [[Freedom of Information Act 2000]], this is the only known publicly available photo of the [[Classified information in the United Kingdom|classified]] COBR facility.|alt=]]

A single photo of one of the rooms in COBR was released in 2010 in response to a [[Freedom of Information Act 2000|Freedom of Information Act]] request.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/cobr|title=COBR – a Freedom of Information request to Cabinet Office|date=12 November 2010 |publisher=WhatDoTheyKnow}}</ref>

== The committees ==
The composition of a ministerial-level meeting in COBR depends on the nature of the incident but it is usually chaired by the [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] or another senior minister, with other key ministers as appropriate, city mayors and representatives of relevant external organisations such as the [[National Police Chiefs' Council]] and the [[Local Government Association]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://politics.guardian.co.uk/publicservices/story/0,11032,816220,00.html|title=What is Cobra|work=The Guardian|access-date=15 September 2009 | location=London | date=21 October 2002 | first=Joey | last=Gardiner}}</ref>

The [[Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies]] (SAGE) is a sub-committee of COBR.<ref name="indep-sharman-sage">{{cite web |last1=Sharman |first1=Jon |title=Publishing Sage membership would 'increase public confidence' in government, agrees Whitty |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-sage-evidence-chris-whitty-public-members-a9482941.html |work=The Independent |access-date=25 April 2020 |date=23 April 2020}}</ref>

==The events==
The first COBR meeting took place in the 1970s to oversee the government's response to the [[UK miners' strike (1972)|1972 miners' strike]].<ref name=sr1>{{cite web |url=http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/features/sfs/file_9.htm | title=File 9: Central Government in War in the 1980s}}</ref><ref name=jw1>{{cite book |last1=Winterton|first1=Jonathan |last2=Winterton |first2=Ruth |title=Coal, Crisis, and Conflict: The 1984–85 Miners' Strike in Yorkshire |year=1989 |publisher=Manchester University Press |page=145 |isbn=9780719025488 }}</ref> Other events that have led to meetings being convened include the 1980 [[Iranian Embassy siege]], the [[11 September 2001 attacks]], the July 2015 [[migrants around Calais|presence of migrants in and around Calais]],<ref name=dw1>{{cite news | url=http://www.dw.com/en/britain-calls-emergency-meeting-on-calais-migrants/a-18619447?maca=en-newsletter_en_bulletin-2097-html-newsletter | title=Britain calls emergency meeting on Calais migrants | work=Deutsche Welle | date=31 July 2015 | agency=Agence France-Presse | access-date=31 July 2015 | location=Berlin}}</ref> the [[COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom|COVID-19 pandemic]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Coronavirus: UK to remain in 'containment' phase of response |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51796072 |website=[[BBC News]] |access-date=9 April 2025 |date=9 March 2020}}</ref> and the [[2024 England riots]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mackintosh |first1=Thomas |last2=Clarke-Billings |first2=Lucy |title=No 10 to hold emergency Cobra meeting after weekend of violence |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpwddpzyxpzo |website=[[BBC News]] |access-date=9 April 2025 |date=4 August 2024}}</ref>

==Criticisms==
In 2009, former senior police officer [[Andy Hayman]], who sat on a committee after the [[7 July 2005 London bombings]] and at other intervals from 2005 to 2007, was highly critical of its "cumbersome, bureaucratic and overly political" workings in his book ''[[The Terrorist Hunters]]''.<ref name="Times I">{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/cobra-emergency-committee-slows-everything-down-j7v866w8dl8|title=Cobra emergency committee 'slows everything down'|last=O'Neil|first=Sean |date=22 June 2009|work=The Times|access-date=3 January 2010|location=London}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[National Security Council (United Kingdom)#National Security Secretariat|National Security Council]]
* [[Civil Contingencies Secretariat]]
* [[COBRA (British TV series)|''COBRA'' (British TV series)]]
* [[Scottish Government Resilience Room]], the emergency management centre used by the [[Scottish Government]] in Scotland to co–ordinate response in Scotland

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Cabinet Office}}

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[[Category:Emergency management in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Cabinet Office (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:Individual rooms]]
[[Category:National government buildings in London]]