Drowning Street and four other memorable lectern moments

Rishi Sunak's general election campaign got off to a damp start as he announced the date of the vote outside No. 10 as heavy rain fell.

The D:Ream song "Things Can Only Get Better", used widely in Labour's 1997 election campaign, blared from a protester's speakers outside the Downing Street gates as the prime minister "became increasingly soaked", said the London Evening Standard. It was more like "Things can only get wetter". 

It joins the list of memorable moments in Downing Street in recent years.

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Theresa's tears

When Margaret Thatcher left Downing Street in November 1990, she "dissolved into floods of tears", said Sky News. 

And nearly 30 years later, Theresa May did the same. "I will shortly leave the job that it has been the honour of my life to hold," she said, after failing to deliver Brexit. She left with "no ill-will" but with "enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love".

This was the moment May's "usually steely demeanour collapsed", said The Guardian, her voice "cracking with emotion as she uttered those last few words". It was "like watching a woman shake off the patriarchal shackles she's been chained with for more than two years" and "finally exhaling", said The Independent.

Classic Cameron

In 2016, David Cameron was heard humming a tune as he walked back into No. 10 after announcing that he would resign as prime minister and hand the levers of power to May.  

There was immediate speculation over his choice of tune, with suggestions ranging from the theme tune to US political saga "The West Wing" to something from Winnie-the-Pooh.

Classic FM analysed the tune and said it was "almost fanfare-like in that confident leap of a fourth from G to C", but "quickly loses confidence when it mirrors the ascent later in the bar".

Them's the breaks

During her reign as PM, May used a podium made of "cedar", but her successor, Boris Johnson, went for a "darker wood and a sturdier design" because "aides knew he was fond of thumping it during speeches", said Mark Mason in The Spectator.

When he stood down in the summer of 2022, Johnson's farewell speech was not as gracious as that of his predecessor. He said he had "tried to persuade my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments when we're delivering so much", but "as we've seen, at Westminster the herd instinct is powerful and when the herd moves it moves".

 "I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world," Johnson added. "But them's the breaks." 

Some were confused over exactly what the last phrase meant. It "deliberately breaks grammatical rules", said The Independent, and was "shorthand for suggesting he was unlucky".

Truss tower

"Never has a politician's lectern been more symbolic", said The Guardian. As Liz Truss stood outside 10 Downing Street to give her resignation speech, "all eyes were on the bizarre wooden structure that stood before her", which was "seemingly made from Jenga blocks, ready to take a tumble".

Eyebrows were raised when it later turned out that the "wonky tower" cost taxpayers nearly £4,200, said Metro. A year on, said The Mirror, the government had found no use for the "higgledy-piggledy pile of bricks".