Three schoolchildren from Theresa May’s Maidenhead constituency have designed the festive cards for her first Christmas as prime minister.
Jade Windsor, 11, drew a picture of 10 Downing Street with a Christmas tree and flying union flag, and an image of the prime minister’s Christmas dinner. May has said she prefers to cook roast goose rather than the traditional turkey on Christmas Day.
Sophie Brazil, also 11, drew Father Christmas visiting Downing Street with his elves, with the famous black railings hung with holly, stockings and a Christmas pudding.
The youngest designer was five-year-old Isabelle Milnes, whose picture features Larry the Downing Street cat as children sing carols with the police officer outside No 10, with Father Christmas’s sleigh flying overhead.
The greeting inside the card, which will be sent to politicians and dignitaries, reads: “Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.” It is signed by the prime minister and her husband, Philip.
Downing Street said it had been May’s annual tradition as Maidenhead MP to choose cards designed by children in her constituency. She will switch on the No 10 Christmas lights at 5pm on Thursday.
The colourful cards are a marked contrast to what turned out to be David Cameron’s last card as prime minister in 2015, which showed him and wife, Samantha, smiling on the steps of No 10 on the day he was re-elected.
Cameron regularly chose pictures of himself and his family for his Christmas cards: in 2010 they featured the couple cradling their newborn daughter Florence, and again in 2013 when she was three.
The Camerons’ cards also regularly used photographs from special events at Downing Street, including the royal wedding street party and a welcome party for the London 2012 Olympics.
Nicola Sturgeon is the only other UK political leader so far to reveal the design for this year’s Christmas card.
The card features an image of Scotland’s first minister peering around the side of a shed after leaving a present for the Sunday Post cartoon character Oor Wullie, who is sitting on an upturned bucket wearing his black dungarees.
This year is the 80th anniversary of the cartoon’s first appearance in the Scottish newspaper, and the original illustration will be auctioned for charity next year.
