Starmer REMOVES portraits of Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh after having also ditched Thatcher picture
Starmer has removed portraits of Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh
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Sir Keir Starmer has removed portraits of Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh that were hung up in No10.
The paintings were previously displayed on the walls of a room used for meetings with world leaders, though have now been replaced with scenes from Crivelli’s Garden - a mural by the late Dame Paula Rego, whose work focuses on female empowerment.
The portraits are not the first to be removed since Starmer moved into No10. Paintings of William Ewart Gladstone and Maragret Thatcher have also been taken off the walls since the Labour leader took over.
Downing Street has insisted that the changes to the artwork were actually put in motion by the last Government.
Starmer has removed portraits of Elizabeth I and Sir Walter RaleighWikimediaCommons/PAA spokesperson said: “The change of artwork is long planned, since before the election, and is timed to mark 125 years of the Government Art Collection (GAC).”
The new artwork could be seen as Volodymyr Zelensky visited Downing Street last week to speak with the Prime Minister.
Prime Ministers are allowed to change the state-owned artworks which hang in No10, and new leaders often refresh their offices with works held by the GAC.
The removal of the portrait of the Tudor monarch and one of her best-known explorers - which were hung either side of a fireplace - has been slammed by Starmer’s political opponents.
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The new paintings were on display when Zelensky came to visit the UK last week
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Robert Jernick, one of two remaining contenders in the Conservative leader race, said: “Elizabeth I was one of our most iconic female leaders. She’s a hero I love to talk to my daughters about.
“Stripping her portrait from Downing Street – alongside Walter Raleigh’s – seems to betray a strange dislike of our history by this Labour Government.”
Both Elizabeth I and Raleigh have been criticised over their links to the transatlantic slave trade, with the former being seen as an early champion of the trade, whilst the latter was one of the country's earliest explorers and colonialists.
The portrait of Elizabeth was painted in 1592 by Flemish artist Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, and depicts her standing on a globe.
Starmer admitted that he asked for a painting of Thatcher to be removed as he does not like pictures of people staring down at him
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Raleigh’s portrait appears to have been restored and was created by an unknown artist. It features him wearing chainmail and with a neutral expression on his face.
In their place are Study for Crivelli’s Garden and Study for Crivelli’s Garden (The Visitation). The National Gallery said that the artwork’s focus was on “strong and courageous women”.
Last month, Starmer admitted that he asked for a painting of Thatcher to be removed as he does not like pictures of people staring down at him, instead preferring landscapes.
“I use the study for quietly reading most afternoons… This is not actually about Margaret Thatcher at all,” the Prime Minister told the BBC. “I don’t like images and pictures of people staring down on me. I’ve found it all my life.”
The portrait of the four-time Liberal Prime Minister Gladstone has also been taken down and put in storage. No official reason has been given, though the Gladtsone family has been criticised for their involvement in the slave trade.
Although he did not hold Caribbean plantations himself, Gladstone's father John was a significant slave owner.