Why does every Prime Minister have a different lectern?

People who are interested in British politics likely watch whoever is the prime minister on any given week make their speeches outside Downing Street.

But those who have their fingers most firmly on the pulse may have noticed that each prime minister makes these speeches from a different lectern.

Varying with different shapes and sizes and colour of wood, you could argue the lecterns say a lot about the people who stand behind them, but what PM chose which lectern and what role do they have in our political landscape?

Here's everything we know about the lecterns:

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The lecterns each take around three weeks to manufacture and cost between £2,000 and £4,000, depending on the style and speed they are needed, the Telegraph reports.

They are made of wood but have a metal core to stop them from being blown over.

Every PM gets their own lectern and these are all paid for by the taxpayer. Seems reasonable...

Gordon Brown and Tony Blair used a lectern on wheels. We'd say they represented the speed and agility of the New Labour government, but we're biased.

Meanwhile, David Cameron's curved lectern in light wood was designed by Baroness Sugg, his head of operations, and was designed to look "statesmanlike", the Telegraph reckons. Appearing narrower in the middle, and wider at each end, you could argue it represented "the squeezed middle" he was accused of leaving behind while prime minister.

When Cameron left office, Theresa May replaced him and brought in her new lectern which was designed by Fiona Hill, her joint chief of staff, and was designed to look "feminine", according to a Telegraph source. It was made of cedar wood and was darker, perhaps representing the dark days of Brexit negotiations.

Johnson's chunkier design was reportedly intended to withstand him punching it with his speech as he delivered speeches.

And Truss's lectern was compared to a Jenga tower because it was twisty. It was raining just before she delivered her first speech so the lectern was covered by a bin bag before it was removed together and people thought it was a metaphor for the Tory government.

According to the Sun's Harry Cole, it was meant to be made of trees but plans changed because of the cost, but still managed to set taxpayers back more than £4,000.

Sadly for the new PM Rishi Sunak, there wasn't time for him to design a new one so he had to settle with one of Truss's leftovers but perhaps we will see a new lectern soon. We'll be waiting excitedly if that's the case.

Then there is the man who is in charge of carrying the many lecterns in and out of Downing Street, Tobias Gough, who got people's attention in 2019 because people think he is pretty dreamy.

When he appears on TV, people call him "sexy lectern man" and "hot lectern man".

Is he the most important player in Westminster? Or is the lectern? Or is Sunak? Only time will tell.

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