TheCabinet Office Briefing Rooms(COBR) are meeting rooms in theCabinet Officein London. These rooms are used for committees which co-ordinate the actions ofgovernmentbodies in response to national or regional crises, or during overseas events with major implications for the UK. It is sometimes referred to asCOBRA.
 | |
| Location | Cabinet Office,70Whitehall,London |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Purpose | Crisis managementcentre |
The facility
editThe Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms are a group of meeting rooms in theCabinet Officeat 70 Whitehall in London, often used for different committees which co-ordinate the actions of bodies within theGovernment of the United Kingdomin response to instances of national or regional crisis, or during events abroad with major implications for the UK. It is occasionally, but not officially, referred to as COBRA,[1]even when the acronym is spelt out by officials.[2]Other meeting rooms in the Cabinet Office are not part of the COBR facility, including the old Treasury Board Room, which is labelled "Conference Room A", located inKent's Treasury,a different part of the Cabinet Office building.[3]
A single photo of one of the rooms in COBR was released in 2010 in response to aFreedom of Information Actrequest.[4]
The committees
editThe composition of a ministerial-level meeting in COBR depends on the nature of the incident but it is usually chaired by thePrime Ministeror another senior minister, with other key ministers as appropriate, city mayors and representatives of relevant external organisations such as theNational Police Chiefs' Counciland theLocal Government Association.[5]
The first COBR meeting took place in the 1970s to oversee the government's response to the1972 miners' strike.[6][7]Other events that have led to meetings being convened include the 1980Iranian Embassy siege,the11 September 2001 attacks,thepresence of migrants in and around Calais,[8]and theCOVID-19 pandemic.
In 2009, former senior police officerAndy Hayman,who sat on a committee after the7 July 2005 London bombingsand at other intervals from 2005 to 2007, was highly critical of its workings in his bookThe Terrorist Hunters.[9]
TheScientific Advisory Group for Emergencies(SAGE) is a sub-committee of COBR.[10]
See also
edit- National Security Council
- Civil Contingencies Secretariat
- COBRA(British TV series)
- Scottish Government Resilience Room,the emergency management centre used by theScottish Governmentin Scotland to co–ordinate response in Scotland
References
edit- ^"The Home Office's Response to Terrorist Attacks"(PDF).The Stationery Office.London. 26 January 2010. p. 5 chapter 2.Retrieved25 February2020.
COBRA isnotan officially recognised term and will therefore not be found in official documents and evidence.
- ^"London 2012: What exactly is a Cobra meeting?".London: BBC News. 23 July 2012.Retrieved25 February2020.
'It sounds great but it stands forCabinet Office Briefing Rooms,so it's rather mundane,' reflects Lord O'Donnell.
- ^"One Room Nine Politicians".The Independent.London. 15 October 2010.Retrieved18 December2019.
- ^"COBR – a Freedom of Information request to Cabinet Office".WhatDoTheyKnow. 12 November 2010.
- ^Gardiner, Joey (21 October 2002)."What is Cobra".The Guardian.London.Retrieved15 September2009.
- ^"File 9: Central Government in War in the 1980s".
- ^Winterton, Jonathan; Winterton, Ruth (1989).Coal, Crisis, and Conflict: The 1984–85 Miners' Strike in Yorkshire.Manchester University Press. p. 145.ISBN9780719025488.
- ^"Britain calls emergency meeting on Calais migrants".Deutsche Welle.Berlin. AFP. 31 July 2015.Retrieved31 July2015.
- ^O'Neil, Sean (22 June 2009)."Cobra emergency committee 'slows everything down'".The Times.London.Retrieved3 January2010.
- ^Sharman, Jon (23 April 2020)."Publishing Sage membership would 'increase public confidence' in government, agrees Whitty".The Independent.Retrieved25 April2020.