The Number 10 Policy Unit is a body of policymakers based in 10 Downing Street, providing policy advice directly to the British Prime Minister. Originally set up to support Harold Wilson in 1974, it has gone through a series of guises to suit the needs of successive prime ministers, staffed variously by political advisers, civil servants and more recently a combination of both.
The current Director of the Number 10 Policy Unit is Graeme Cooke.
After 2010 The Coalition Government of May 2010 quickly disbanded two major parts of central infrastructure built by Tony Blair – the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit (PMDU) and the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit (PMSU) – as part of the Prime Minister's agenda to reduce the number of special advisers and end the micromanagement of Whitehall. In their place, a strengthened Policy and Implementation Unit was launched in early 2011 by the Cabinet Secretary, staffed wholly by civil servants and reporting jointly to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister under joint heads Paul KirbyCameron's New Backroom Team Aims to Move Story On from U-turns and Cuts (Policy) and Kris Murrin (Implementation).
Members of the Policy Unit in 2010 were Gavin Lockhart-Mirams (Home Affairs), Sean Worth (Health and Adult Social Care), Chris Brown (Education), Richard Freer (Defence), Tim Luke (Business and Enterprise), Michael Lynas (Big Society) and Ben Moxham (Energy and Environment). The Unit was supported by the Research and Analytics Unit.
Since 2019 Munira Mirza was appointed director of the Policy Unit when Boris Johnson became prime minister. She had previously been Deputy Mayor of London with responsibility for Education and Culture under Johnson during his time as Mayor of London. Mirza resigned on 4 February 2022 after Johnson failed to apologise for making misleading remarks that implied that Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile while the latter was Director of Public Prosecutions.
Andrew Griffith MP was appointed to replace Mirza as the director of the Policy Unit until 8 July 2022. As a sitting MP, he was also appointed as Parliamentary Secretary (Minister for Policy and Head of the Prime Minister's Policy Unit). The role was left vacant from 8 July 2022, as Johnson announced his resignation as party leader, with a view to remaining as a caretaker prime minister until his successor had been chosen.
The vacant post was filled by Jamie Hope on 6 September 2022 as part of the short-lived Truss ministry.
When Rishi Sunak became prime minister in October 2022, Eleanor Shawcross, the daughter of the Commissioner for Public Appointments, William Shawcross and grand-daughter of the barrister Hartley Shawcross, became director of the Policy Unit. She had previously donated £20,000 to his leadership campaign, having advised him while he was Chancellor of the Exchequer. Shawcross had previously spent 6 years as deputy chief of staff to George Osborne during his time as Chancellor, and chief of staff at the Department for Work and Pensions where she was later made a non-executive director.
List of Directors of the Policy Unit
# Policy Director YearsPeerage Prime Minister 1 Bernard Donoughue 1974–1976Baron Donoughue Harold Wilson1976–1979James Callaghan 2 John Hoskyns 1979–1982 Margaret Thatcher 3 Ferdinand Mount 1982–1983 4 John Redwood 1983–1985Baron Redwood 5 Brian Griffiths 1985–1990Baron Griffiths of Fforestfach 6 Sarah Hogg 1990–1995Baroness HoggThe Viscountess Hailsham by marriage John Major 7 Norman Blackwell 1995–1997Baron Blackwell 8 David Miliband 1997–2001 Tony Blair 9 Andrew Adonis 2001–2003Baron Adonis 10 Geoff Mulgan 2003–2004 11 Matthew Taylor 2005–2005 12 David Bennett 2005–2007 13 Dan Corry 2007–2008 Gordon Brown 14 Nick Pearce 2008–2010 15 James O'Shaughnessy, Baron O'Shaughnessy 2010–2011Baron O'Shaughnessy David Cameron 16 Paul Kirby 2011–2013 17 Jo Johnson 2013–2015Baron Johnson of Marylebone 18 Camilla Cavendish 2015–2016Baroness Cavendish of Little Venice 19 John Godfrey 2016–2017 Theresa May 20 James Marshall 2017–2019 21 Munira Mirza 2019–2022 Boris Johnson 22 Andrew Griffith 202223Jamie Hope2022 Liz Truss24Eleanor Shawcross2022–2024Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson Rishi Sunak25Stuart Ingham2024–2025 Keir Starmer 26 Harvey Redgrave 2025–2026 27 Graeme Cooke 2026–present Andy Burnham
See also Central Policy Review Staff Prime Minister's Office
References