made his first and only televised broadcast at 10.00pm on 20 March 2003. In his address, he announced that British troops had been sent to fight in the Iraq War: COVID-19 pandemic The next broadcast was made 17 years later by Boris Johnson, on 23 March 2020. In his speech, Johnson announced a nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the public ordered to stay at home and only leave for essential purposes: His broadcast was shown at 8.30pm on BBC One, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky News and the BBC News Channel, as well as on streaming service Amazon Prime, and attained overnight viewing figures of over 27 million, making one of the most most watched programmes in the history of British television. Johnson made a second broadcast on 10 May 2020 to announce the easing of lockdown measures in England, but this was criticised as being "divisive, confusing and vague". List of Prime Ministerial Broadcasts, Statements and Speeches Other Broadcasts In addition to those listed above, other ministerial broadcasts were given by Cabinet ministers concerning matters such as civil defence and employment rights. Details of broadcasts are taken from the BBC's Genome Project. Budget Broadcasts The Chancellor of the Exchequer gave a broadcast each year from 1953 to explain the budget, an economic plan that sets out the government's spending and taxation plans for the year. A representative of the main opposition party (usually the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer) would air a reply the next day, and from 1984 a spokesperson from the third-largest party in Parliament also made a response. The broadcasts were scrapped by the BBC Trust in 2012, in favour of additional Party Political Broadcasts. The BBC defended its decision, saying that they originated from a time where filming the Budget Statement from inside the House of Commons was not possible, and the public would be able to access the information from various other outlets. List of Budget Broadcasts In popular culture An episode of the BBC satirical comedy Yes, Prime Minister ("The Ministerial Broadcast") features the main character Jim Hacker preparing for his first ministerial broadcast as Prime Minister. See also Royal address to the nation, a similar broadcast by the King. Oval Office address, a broadcast by the President of the United States Cadena nacional Notes References External links Anthony Eden's broadcast on the Suez Crisis, at British Pathé A