The Cabinet Room

The Cabinet Room, Cabinet War Rooms

This was the inner sanctum of British Government, the room used for meetings of the Prime Minister, a select few ministers and advisers of his War Cabinet and his Chiefs of Staff. Churchill occupied the large wooden seat at the far side of the room and presided over a coalition of ministers drawn from all sides of Parliament.

The room was also used frequently by the Defence Committee, which initially served as Churchill's principal instrument for conducting the war, bringing together specific ministers and Chiefs of Staff of the armed forces. Cabinet meetings could start and finish at any time of the day or night. Churchill, who was famed for retiring late, occasionally called meetings here during the evening bombing raids of 1940 and 1941 and sometimes brought them to a close long after midnight.