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Welcome to the briefing room with me, David Aronovich.

The briefing room is the corner of the metaverse,

where you, me and the top experts get together to understand a big issue of the day.

This week, what actually is number 10? And does it need fixing?

The Sue Gray report was not just about drinking. It also pointed at the nature of the

operation at number 10.

And although to many a discussion about this may seem an attempt to divert attention away

from a current scandal, there are important questions to be asked about how the very centre

of government operates. So, apart from being a building, what exactly is number 10? What does it do?

And where is it failing? Step inside the briefing room and together we'll find out.

First, we need to understand how many people work at number 10, who they are, and ask who's in charge of who.

Alex Thomas leads the Institute for Government's work on policymaking and the Civil Service.

Before that, he was principal private secretary to Sir Jeremy Hayward, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service.

Alex Thomas, when you were doing that job, where were you based?

So physically, I was in the Cabinet Office building, which is basically sort of just one up

from Downing Street. There's a room sort of at the back of that building that is very close then

to the number 10 link door, which does what it says on the

tin and links with Downing Street. So you didn't have to come out into Whitehall and through the gates

and into Number 10 Downing Street. You could always just do it the back way. No, you can always go

around the back. And link door passes are very prized amongst Cabinet Office staff because it

means you can get into the heart of things. And were you using your link door pass a lot? Yes, because you're one of the bridges between number 10 serving the

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