Brian Green Brian Green was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 456 incident . Biography . He succeeded Aubrey Fairchild in 2009 and was the Prime Minister at the time of the 456 incident . He expressed frustration and fear at dealing with the constant alien attacks , saying that he ran " a country at siege from above " . He met with John Frobisher about the return of the 456 and the need to remove any record of the first time Britain met them . Rather than take control , he left the matter to Frobisher - including the assassination of witnesses - so he could deny involvement if anything went wrong . Officially , " I never knew " . ( TV : " " ) The next day , he met with Frobisher to discuss the crisis and made it clear to Frobisher that he would be blamed if things went wrong . Afterwards he went to look at the gas tank being made for the 456 on Floor 13 of Thames House . The tank was built for the 456 when the ambassador visited the next day . ( TV : " " ) Green addressed the nation the next morning , promising calm and stability . He did not have a high profile on Day Three , only being seen observing the 456 landing at Thames House from his office in Downing Street . He witnessed the negotiation between Frobisher and the 456 . Green was reprimanded by General Pierce of the American military for trying to cover up the British government ' s prior involvement with the 456 . ( TV : " " ) On Day Four , Green held a meeting of COBRA to discuss how to meet the 456 ' s demands of 10 % of Great Britain ' s children , Green made a decision to exempt any COBRA member ' s children and grandchildren , including his own . This — and his refusal to make extended family exempt — was used by Home Secretary Denise Riley to argue that since they were throwing out a truly random " lottery " , they should hand over the lowest 10 % of children in the school league tables . Green had John Frobisher arrange transport for this . However Lois Habiba was spying on the meeting for Torchwood and tried to blackmail Green into letting Jack Harkness ' s team " do their job " . Torchwood ' s show of strength spectacularly failed when the 456 casually murdered the entirety of Thames House ; an angry Green sneered , " Happy now ? " at Habiba and continued with the plan . ( TV : " " ) On the day he agreed to give the children to the 456 , Green had full control of the crisis taken from him and given to General Pierce , who oversaw the taking of the 10 % of the children . During the day , he had Frobisher order a media stunt to encourage the cover story for the taking of the children — innoculations . Green later told Frobisher that his children would be taken and given to the 456 so that the government would be seen to have suffered . Frobisher killed himself and his family to spare them this fate . At the end of the day , Green was having a meeting in the Cabinet Room with Denise Riley and Frobisher ' s PA , Bridget Spears . Green commented on how the situation turned out " lucky " for him , as the American General Austin Pierce had taken over the operation and they could blame the child snatchings on him . Once he ' d shown his first thought was to save his own skin , Spears blackmailed Green : she told him she had used the Torchwood contact lenses to record the day ' s events in the Cabinet Room , including Green ' s comment about being lucky . Green threatened to have Spears arrested but Riley let Spears go and implied that she would be taking over from him . ( TV : " " ) Shortly after the crisis , Green was still Prime Minister . ( COMIC : " Don ' t Step on the Grass " )