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A red box is a red, wooden Briefcase used by the British Government to pass important information from one Department (or person) to another. Perhaps the best known red box is the 'Budget Box', which is held up for a photo-shoot outside of 11 Downing Street , when the Chancellor Of The Exchequer announces his annual Budget plans. The first Budget Box was made for William Ewart Gladstone around 1860 and is lined in black and covered with scarlet Leather . That particular box had been used by every Chancellor since, with the exceptions of James Callaghan and the current Chancellor, Gordon Brown , who both had new ones commissioned in 1965 and 1997 respectively, as the original is beginning to wear away. The current Budget Box is made of yellow pine with a brass handle and lock, covered in scarlet leather and embossed with the Royal Cypher of E II R and the words 'Chancellor of the Exchequer' directly beneath it. Other red boxes of note are the ones delivered to The Queen every day (except Christmas Day ) by government departments, via the Page Of The Presence . These boxes contain Cabinet and Foreign And Commonwealth Office documents, most of which The Queen must sign and give her Royal Assent to, before they can become law (an essential part of her role as a Constitutional Monarch ). |