PIPPA FOWLES / 10 DOWNING STREET / CROWN COPYRIGHT / PA MEDIA
Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds’ rescue dog has been a Downing Street inhabitant since September 2019, after the Jack Russell was adopted from Friends of Animals Wales. Born with a misaligned jaw, Dilyn was saved from a puppy farm by the charity, who commented that he was ‘destined for an uncertain existence at the hands of a puppy dealer’. Dilyn was credited with sparking a surge in the popularity of Jack Russells – dubbed the ‘Boris Bounce’ – after his introduction to Number 10 and became a firm fixture on the campaign trail. More recently, however, his role hasn’t been without its controversy, with outcry over ‘vanity’ photos taken by one of the three (taxpayer-funded) Downing Street photographers. Dilyn is also apparently not always the best-behaved dog, having reportedly chewed priceless furniture and books at Chequers, cocked his leg over an aide’s handbag, and even allegedly having ‘humped�
A statue of Thatcher in the Guildhall was vandalised in 2002 (Image: GETTY)
In 2002 a different statue of the former Prime Minister was decapitated by a protestor at London’s Guildhall.
The attacker used a cricket bat and metal bar to damage the monument.
Describing how he erected his model in Grantham, Mr Robla said: “There was no breaking and entering. It has a metal fence around it so I ve just gone in with my ladder and put it up in about five minutes.
“I had my high vis jacket on and the plan was to say I was measuring the plinth for the council if anyone said anything.
Old Wykehamists: Who has attended the historic private school?
The £42,000-a-year Hampshire school is the alma mater of six chancellors: Henry Addington, Robert Lowe, Stafford Cripps, Hugh Gaitskell, Geoffrey Howe and Rishi Sunak.
Other senior government figures include former culture secretary John Whittingdale and former Tory minister Nick Boles.
In the world of film and TV, its alumni include Joss Whedon, the director behind the Avengers movie and the Buffy the Vampire TV series, as well as actors Hugh Dancy and Charles Edwards.
The school also taught several successful athletes including Olympic rower George Nash MBE, India s cricket captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and George Mallory, the pioneering Everest mountaineer.
First, it was the Security Service, MI5; then the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6; now GCHQ has approved an authorised history.
GCHQ was the most secretive of Britain’s security and intelligence agencies. Its eye-catching modern headquarters, widely referred to as “the doughnut”, is now the best-known building in Cheltenham, a spa town in southwest England.
GCHQ has more than 7,000 staff – many of them computer wizards, mathematicians and linguists – excluding Royal Air Force, Navy and Army signals experts working with the agency. It takes up the lion’s share of Britain’s £3-billion plus secret intelligence budget.
The initials GCHQ, which not so long ago could only be whispered, are prominently displayed on local bus routes. GCHQ’s books of puzzles are popular Christmas gifts.