When Theresa May wants to relax – and who can blame her – she likes to go for a swim in Richard Nixon’s swimming pool.

She is not a fan of Downing Street but does like to get away at weekends to Chequers, the PM’s rural retreat, and take a dip in the pool installed by the then-US ambassador Walter Annenberg as a thank you for the warm welcome Ted Heath gave Nixon in the 1970s.

Thrifty Margaret Thatcher was not a fan and had the pool’s heating switched off to save money. But along with The Times sudoku, doing a few lengths is one of May’s favourite ways to unwind. “It’s so peaceful and quite,” says a No 10 source. “It is a great