PM’s biographer says portrait of predecessor commissioned by Gordon Brown no longer hangs in the Thatcher Room
The ‘unsettling’ Thatcher portrait hangs between the then PM David Cameron and Irish taoiseach Enda Kenny in 2011, two years after its unveiling.The ‘unsettling’ Thatcher portrait hangs between the then PM David Cameron and Irish taoiseach Enda Kenny in 2011, two years after its unveiling.Tom Baldwin said that after Starmer took office he had spoken with the prime minister in Thatcher’s former No 10 study, unofficially known as the Thatcher Room, where a portrait of her was on display.
A warning from the No 10 garden and an EU olive branch. We are finally seeing Starmerism in action | Martin KettleSpeaking at an event organised by Glasgow’s Aye Write book festival, Baldwin said: “We sat there, and I go: ‘It’s a bit unsettling with her staring down as you like that, isn’t it?’” Starmer replied yes and, when asked whether he would “get rid of it”, the prime minister nodded, according to Baldwin.Brown invited Thatcher to tea at Downing Street shortly after he succeeded Tony Blair in 2007 and told her he intended to commission the painting.
The artwork, which cost £100,000 and was paid for by an anonymous donor, was the first of a former prime minister to be commissioned by No 10.The decision to take down the painting, first reported by the Herald, has been criticised by some in the Conservative party. Greg Smith, the MP for Mid Buckinghamshire, told the Telegraph the decision was “utter pettiness from Starmer” and claimed that it showed he had “no respect for our history and previous prime ministers”.Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, the Labour leader said she had “set loose our natural entrepreneurialism” during her time as prime minister.A warning from the No 10 garden and an EU olive branch.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Keir Starmer warns of tough times ahead to fix ‘Tory ruins’Labour leader tells working people rot left by Conservatives is so much worse than imagined and improvement won’t happen overnight
Read more »
Keir Starmer to deliver speech on ‘rooting out years of rot’ left by ConservativesPrime minister to say ‘things will get worse before we get better’ as he sets out plans ahead of parliament’s return next week
Read more »
Keir Starmer takes a political gamble with message of bad newsPast Labour PMs – Blair, Wilson, Attlee – have tended to arrive in power accentuating the positive
Read more »
Keir Starmer vows to ‘turn a corner on Brexit’ before Germany tripPM says trip is part of wider efforts to restore ‘broken relationships’ with EU countries
Read more »
Inside Jeremy Clarkson’s pub in hit show where Keir Starmer is bannedOutspoken television and print journalist and pig lover Jeremy Clarkson has opened a pub in the English countryside and it was an instant hit with tourists.
Read more »
Keir Starmer to meet police leaders as Southport attack leads to violent unrestFar-right protests in London, Hartlepool and Manchester followed fatal stabbing of three children on Monday
Read more »