How Keir Starmer could spend his £30k renovation budget at No 10

One of the most revealing aspects of a Prime Minister’s first few months in office is how they spend – or don’t spend – their renovation budget. Each leader is given an annual public grant of £30,000 to use on redecoration, and the way they choose to apportion it tells us a lot about how they’ll be remembered. 

David Cameron spent his allowance on a new kitchen, ushering in an age of dinner parties and meetings taken in a more informal fashion. Theresa May didn’t spend all of her budget, her mind on the more austere matter of the Brexit aftermath. Famously, Boris Johnson added to his pot with a rumoured extra £112,000, of which the £3,000 drinks trolley has characterised one of the most notorious eras of modern politics. 

We don’t yet know where Sir Keir Starmer will live when he moves from Kentish Town with his wife and teenage children – Tony Blair favoured the larger confines of the flat above Number 11 instead, as did all his successors bar Rishi Sunak – nor what his attitude to the decor will be. So will this be an era of championed British creativity, or will he leave things much as they are? 

Here, four interior designers pitch where they would put the budget, and the little tricks that could make a big difference.

Eva Sonaike

While it may seem like a big amount on paper, £30,000 is not a lot of money for a London property – full refurbishment projects tend to budget anywhere from around £100,000 upwards, and high-spec kitchens can easily cost £80,000 or more. But I’d expect his style to be very different from his predecessors’, and he’s going to need to make some changes to reflect that. Being Prime Minister is going to be highly stressful, so I’d suggest Sofa.com for a sofa, and Loaf for a bed – I’ve just bought one for a client which was so comfortable, for around £1,300. 

Unlike some previous PMs, I don’t see him shopping at Porta Romana for lamps, or opting for gold wallpaper; he seems less flashy and more humble than that. In fact, he’s in a perfect position to honour British brands, and his budget will go much further at quintessentially classic stores such as OKA, or with Tori Murphy, whose textiles are woven in the UK and whose striped curtains start at just over £300. 

Ultimately, with that annual budget, he needs to focus on decorative updates that will uplift him after a long day at work; my Asa wallpaper is patterned but gently so, and comes in at a palatable £129 per roll. The great thing about this annual budget is that he can stagger the renovation, updating rooms as he grows into the role, working out how he needs the home to function. There’s a lesson in there for all of us, in not rushing to do everything at once and allowing a space to grow with our lives, and with that mindset his budget can go far.

Jo le Gleud

With that budget, I’d be tempted to do one room really, really well, to blow the money on beautiful pieces such as a sofa from Sedilia that will set you back around £10,000. But I don’t think that’s Starmer’s style, and as we’re going to want our Prime Minister to be well rested, I’d suggest starting in the bedroom, making it feel really relaxing and textured to counteract all the hardness of his day. 

A mattress from Norris Bedding – made in Dartford, so he’d be supporting UK industry – will start at around £700. Add some grasscloth wallpaper, velvety pillows and, as he should continue to be patriotic, some really comfy blankets by a Welsh maker such as Melin Tregwynt, which cost less than £200. Because let’s not forget that £30,000 in itself is a good chunk of money and you can do a lot with it if you act cleverly. I’d advise buying vintage – it’s less wasteful – and trying places such as Robert Stephenson for antique rugs, which are around £700 per square metre. In a few places you can splash out, and why not enhance what you already have? 

A couple of really wonderful wallpaper panels from Fromental would be a splurge – around £700 each – but could clad cupboard doors and make the space so beautiful. And he may choose not to rip out the kitchen units, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be impactful here too. A specialist painter can use Little Greene’s brilliant paints – around £50 for 2.5 litres – to cover cabinets in a watertight way, while Plank Hardware’s ironmongery is less than £20 per handle. They’re quirky, fun and make the most of what is there – a good approach for all redecoration projects.

Alex Dauley

Paint is going to be Starmer’s friend, and with this budget his new home can be a very impactful FF&E project (which focuses solely on the furniture, fixtures and equipment, rather than, say, the built-ins and technical areas). If you go to a good brand such as Dulux it only costs around £700 for materials and labour to paint a room, so why not go all out? I’d suggest going for a bright red dining room, with the colour wrapped across the ceiling too; something dramatic and bold. He can always change it next year. 

Though on reflection, I think he’ll need calming colours, so I’d recommend blues and greens and earth tones. And if he focuses on table lamps, window dressings, artworks and plants, he won’t need to worry about labour costs, so he can stretch that £30,000 further. Although it’s not an insignificant amount, even a sofa at somewhere such as DFS could set you back about £3,000, so the budget won’t go far on bigger pieces. He should look on vintage websites such as Vinterior, Scene by Chloe and Four Quarters Home, where if you’re lucky you can get a really smart Italian antique sofa for £2,000 and reupholster it in a fabric of your choice. 

Olga Ashby

I recently got a kitchen from Howdens for £3,000 and then added brass fronts and leather inserts from a high-end supplier that cost £5,000. The result was so elevated and expensive-looking, an approach Starmer could definitely take. 

He should also do the cloakroom. If he’s going to have visitors coming and going, it’s the one place they will all see, and a room you can make a beautiful statement in for not very much money. Go to a stone yard, make friends with the manager and dig deep through their offcuts, the bits they’re not even expecting to sell. You can often find a luxe piece of marbled burgundy or deep green stone for less than £500. 

Then I’d head to Alfies Antiques Market, where cute vintage table lamps can be bought for £170. Nice lighting makes the whole space look more expensive and considered; an easy update at well under budget.