Downing Street is the official residence of the British Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the two most senior members of the British government. Although closed to the public, the street is visible from Whitehall.

The famous black doors of number 10 and number 11 currently house Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, also known as First Lord of the Treasury, and Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, or Second Lord of the Treasury.

Number 9 houses the Chief Whip. This is a member of the government whose job involves ensuring that members of the governing party vote in-line with party policy.

Number 12 is the current location of the Prime Minister's press, communications, information and research operations. All of these buildings are arranged along one side of the street, with the opposite side occupied by the Foreign Office, the department of the British Government concerned with overseas relations.

The street was created in the 1680s by Sir George Downing, a soldier and diplomat who was rewarded for services to King Charles II with the plot of land next to St James' Park. At that time it contained a large residence called Hampden House, and prior to this the site was occupied by a brewhouse - 'The Axe' - which belonged to the Abbey of Abingdon.

The ministers who occupy Downing Street have often had cause to swap houses, most recently when Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister, chose to live with his larger family in Number 11, whilst his unmarried Chancellor Gordon Brown (now the Prime Minister) moved into the less spacious accommodation of number 10.

In 1989 Margaret Thatcher, then Prime Minister, ordered the creation of a security checkpoint at the entrance to Downing Street, due to the threat of terrorism from the IRA, or Irish Republican Army. Since then, entrance to Downing Street involves passing through a security cordon and the street is patrolled by armed police. There is at all times at least one police officer stationed permanently outside Number 10.