Sucks to be him! How Henry the vacuum cleaner became an accidental design icon

Henry is a fixture in millions of homes - including 10 Downing Street - despite almost no advertising. Meet the man behind a curiously British success story

In March this year, photos of the government's glitzy new briefing room, where Boris Johnson's new media chief was set to host daily press conferences, leaked to the media. The centrepiece of a presidential" approach to communications, it was already controversial for its cost to taxpayers of 2.6m. With its gaudy blue backdrop, giant union flags and imposing podium, it looked like the stage for a US political or legal TV show: The West Wing with a touch of Judge Judy.

What the briefing room needed was something to suck the pomposity out of it. What it needed, it turned out, was a cameo appearance from a 620-watt anthropomorphic vacuum cleaner. The stocky red and black appliance was barely visible in the wings, stage left, yet instantly recognisable. Turned away from the podium, his chrome wand propped casually against a varnished dado rail, the Henry vacuum cleaner looked almost as if he were rolling his eyes.