A farewell to the Government's longest-serving member

Today George Osborne will present his first Budget; the so-called "Emergency Budget" aimed at setting the UK back on the road to profitability.  However, the occasion of this even will overshadow a far more solemn event; the quiet and humble retirement of one of the Government's longest-serving members.

After 150 years of loyal service, the Gladstone Box is being retired

No, I'm not talking about Sir Peter Tapsell, the current Father of the House who first took up his seat in 1959.  Instead I am referring to the briefcase that has ingrained itself in the consciousness of everyone in the UK who has ever watched the news or opened a newspaper on Budget Day.

Known as the 'Gladstone Box', it was first used 150 years ago by the then Chancellor, William Gladstone.  Since then it has been used by 44 different Chancellors and has contained some of the most controversial decisions in British politics.

Here are ten facts about the ubiquitous box:

1. The box was made in 1860 for Chancellor William Gladstone, who held the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer four times.
2. Gladstone was originally a Conservative MP before becoming a Liberal Prime Minister, so perhaps it is appropriate that its final use should be by a Conservative-Lib Dem coalition.
3. The box has been used by 44 different chancellors in its lifetime.
4. James Callaghan and Gordon Brown are the only two chancellors not to use the original box.
5. According to William Hague, Chancellor Norman Lamont once kept a bottle of Highland Park whisky in the box.
6. The box is lined with black satin and covered in scarlet-stained ram’s leather.
7. The custom of holding the box aloft for a photo began with Hugh Dalton, the Chancellor in 1947.
8. In 1868, Chancellor George Ward-Hunt opened the box to find that he had left his speech at home.
9. Locks on ministerial boxes are on the bottom to ensure they are locked before being carried.
10. The box will now spend its retirement on display at the Cabinet War Rooms in Whitehall.

It remains to be seen how the outgoing box will be replaced; a few years back the idea of replacing the boxes with identically-clad laptops was mooted.  Either way, today's occasion will provide a fitting exit for the most faithful and longest serving member of the Government.