A mobile game called No 10: Full Confidence has beaten Minecraft to the top of Apple‘s paid games chart in the UK, a success that few would have predicted for a title built entirely around the chaos of Westminster politics. The game was made by Benjamin Brewis, a developer based in Manchester.
In No 10: Full Confidence, players take on the role of prime minister, working through more than 300 fictional political scenarios handwritten by Brewis himself. The goal is straightforward: stay in power for as long as possible by keeping four factions on side, the cabinet, backbenchers, the media and the public. Each scenario gives the player three possible responses, and each choice risks upsetting at least one group. Much like real Westminster life, if any single faction turns against you completely, the game is over.
Dog in the Lords and a fridge-hiding PM
The scenarios range from the everyday to the deliberately absurd. Brewis described one of his favourites: ‘I have a two or three-part storyline where a dog is let loose into the House of Lords by a lobbyist during a vet bill and that spirals out of control.’ He said real events gave him plenty of material to work with. ‘I’d remember that MP who had a spider that he’d threaten MPs with, or when Boris Johnson walked into a fridge. I’m frantically writing them all down.’
Brewis said he was inspired to start building the app around December 2025, when political pressure on former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was growing and talk of leadership challenges was circulating. ‘I remember thinking at the time, someone should just start taking the mick out of this,’ he said. ‘We’ve had so many prime ministers, it’s funny now.’ Five different people have occupied 10 Downing Street since 2016, three of them in the space of just over three years, and one who lasted just 49 days.
No 10 Full Confidence and the rise of Westminster gaming
Dr Russell Foster, a lecturer in British and International Politics at King’s College London, said the ‘churn of prime ministers’ and the growing presence of politics on social media could help explain why Westminster is suddenly appearing on people’s phones and tablets.
No 10: Full Confidence is not alone in this new corner of British gaming. Fantasy Parliament is a browser-based game by another UK developer, Evan Roberts, that lets players build a fantasy league of real-world MPs, scoring points based on their actual media coverage. A built-in Policy Tester allows players to type proposals into a ChatGPT-style tool, which then responds as different voter types (such as Coastal Keith or Graduate Gemma) might react. A further title, UK Politics Simulator, described as ‘built on real UK data down to ward level’, is reportedly due out later this year for PC, made by Scarborough-based company Black Cannon Games.
No 10: Full Confidence is currently ranked fifth in Apple’s UK paid games chart, sitting above Monopoly Go. Brewis said he does not know whether any serving politicians have actually played it, but friends of his who work in the civil service have offered their verdict on how accurately it captures the reality of government. ‘It’s exactly like this,’ they told him, ‘but worse.’
As for what a typical run looks like, BBC technology reporter Laura Cress tested the game and lasted one year and nine months as prime minister before the press turned against her character. The longest recorded run belongs to a player who survived for 1,885 months, 157 years. Brewis’s response to that feat: ‘I’m not sure if that’s a democracy any more.’
