THE new-look White House-style £2.6 million media briefing room at 9 Downing St has been revealed in pictures obtained by ITV News.

The images show a plush new blue-background studio, with rows of seats for journalists, an official Downing Street lectern and four Union flags.

This is where in the coming months Allegra Stratton, Boris Johnson’s Press Secretary, will take daily briefings from journalists and it is possible that, occasionally, ministers will appear in front of the camera, including the Prime Minister himself.

The project has already suffered a number of setbacks and delays and been dogged by controversy, the latest being how the communications equipment was installed by a company with links to Russia.

The project received widespread criticism when the true cost of the installation was revealed in a Freedom of Information request last week.

Labour’s Rachel Reeves, commenting on the pictures of the new-look briefing room, noted: “Given how much money Boris Johnson has thrown at his latest vanity project, we were expecting something a bit more impressive."

It is thought the idea of a White House-style briefing room was the brainchild of Lee Cain, No 10’s former Director of Communications, who left Downing Street in December.

Questions were raised over the involvement of a Russian-owned company hired to carry out crucial work installing equipment, including microphones, control desks, cameras and computers.

The HuffPost website reported that the renovations were carried out by Megahertz, a company owned by a Moscow-based firm that has carried out technical work for state-controlled broadcaster Russia Today.

Ms Stratton, a former journalist, insisted there were “absolutely not” any security concerns, adding: “Clearly, in a contract like that we take all the necessary measures to ensure the highest standards of security.”

However, Ms Reeves said “serious questions” were being raised about who was getting “rushed-through” Government contracts.

“And that’s before we even get to why our nurses are getting a pay cut while the Government spends millions on a media briefing room,” the Shadow Cabinet Office Minister added.

“Given how much money Boris Johnson has thrown at his latest vanity project, we were expecting something a bit more impressive.

“The fact the Government seems to have simply brushed this off with no further transparency or assurances on how they’re spending British taxpayer money is deeply concerning,” she added.

Kirsten Oswald, the SNP's Westminster Deputy Leader, said: "It beggars belief that Boris Johnson is wasting millions of pounds of public money on ugly Tory vanity projects, and a luxury refurbishment of his apartment, at the same time as imposing a public sector pay freeze, cuts to Universal Credit and tax rises for millions of workers.

"The Westminster system is broken beyond repair. Yet again, the Tories are revealing themselves to be arrogant and completely out of touch by lavishing taxpayers’ cash on themselves while imposing austerity cuts on the rest of us," she added.

The briefing room revamp comes as Mr Johnson has faced pressure over the funding of a separate refurbishment of his official residence.

The launch of the televised briefings had been expected as early as the autumn but in January No 10 said they were being delayed as ministers planned to hold regular press conferences during the lockdown.