Dorneywood

[3] It was given to the National Trust by Lord Courtauld-Thomson in 1947 as a grace-and-favour country home for a senior member of the Government, usually a Secretary of State or Minister of the Crown.

In previous administrations it has been the residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and, prior to 31 May 2006, was occupied by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

Prescott was forced to relinquish occupancy of Dorneywood, following a series of scandals over an affair with civil servant Tracey Temple and a snatched paparazzi photograph of him playing croquet on the lawn of the property whilst the Prime Minister Tony Blair was out of the country on a visit to Washington.

[9] "A spokesman for Mr Brown ... explained that the house ... was owned by a trust, and would revert first to the Lord Mayor of London and then to the American Ambassador, if the Chancellor did not want it.

On becoming Prime Minister, Alec Douglas-Home was reluctant to forsake the more comfortable and modern Dorneywood for the antique splendours of Chequers.