𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Ed Miliband delivered his first speech to staff at the Foreign Office on Tuesday in Durbar Court, a stunning Italian Renaissance-style courtyard in the middle of the building in King Charles Street. Named in 1902 during King Edward VII’s coronation celebrations, it was built in 1866 and features polished red and grey granite columns with marble flooring. It is perhaps the stand-out government department in Whitehall, aesthetically speaking.

The interior looks like something from one of George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels. Beneath beautiful domed ceilings are columns, ornate stonework, archways, chandeliers and red-carpetted staircases. On the walls are five murals by Sigismund Goetze, painted between 1912 and 1921, which he said depicted the origin, education, development, expansion and triumph of the British Empire. Britannia looms over all who enter. Cut to Friday, when Andy Burnham arrived at his new “Number 10 North”, where he will be spending one day a week during his premiership.

It pales in comparison to Mr Miliband’s new haunt, and other government buildings in the capital.

If the government wants to move some of its operations from London, fair enough. It could actually improve things. Success needs to be spread more widely in Britain, geographically speaking.

But please for the love of God pick a better building for it.

The actual Number 10 in Downing Street is very impractical, but incredibly charming, basically a terraced house and yet the headquarters of one of the most powerful countries on Earth.

Other countries are run from much larger and grander places.

But GCHQ’s Heron House is incredibly boring – yet another plain, over-glassed building that can be found in town and city centres across the land.

Where is our ambition and pride?

No. 10 North is located right next to Alfred Waterhouse’s magnificent gothic town hall, built between 1868 and 1877, making it seem even more normal.

Britain’s enemies – Putin in the Kremlin and President XI of China in Zhongnanhai – will surely be watching on and laughing.

I can also picture allies like President Trump in the White House and President Macron in the Élysée Palace saying: “Is that it?”

Manchester is full of other great looking buildings, where some space surely could have been found for the new government department.

Maybe officials tried to find some and were unsuccessful. In which case, fair enough.

But I doubt this was the case.

Mr Burnham’s team seems more occupied with social media than history and architecture.

Doubtless the public would think the construction of an entirely new building more easy on the eye – whether in an old school or contemporary style – would be a waste of money.

They’d probably be right, as there are so many things wrong with Britain that need fixing.

But in an ideal world, where our politics were more stable and our economy larger and growing more quickly, resources would be available to construct somewhere more befitting of the Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and his staff.