Keir Starmer has removed portraits of William Gladstone, Elizabeth I and Walter Raleigh from No10, it was revealed today.
The paintings of former PMs, kings and explorers appear to have changed as Sir Keir put his stamp on Downing Street.
A spokesman for No10 said: ‘The artwork change has been planned for a long time, since before the election, and it’s time to mark 125 years of the government’s art collection.’
However, there have long been attacks on Gladstone over his family’s involvement in slavery – with calls for statues to be removed and civic buildings to be renamed.
Elizabeth I is considered an early champion of trade, while Raleigh was an early colonialist – and also famously brought tobacco to England for the first time.
Sir Keir admitted last month he asked for Margaret Thatcher’s portrait to be moved in number 10 because he ‘didn’t like people’ staring at me.
Keir Starmer had a portrait of William Gladstone removed from No 10 after critics slammed the 19th Century PM for his links to the slave trade, it is claimed today.
Gladstone’s painting is believed to have been removed from No 10 as a copy of a work by John Everett Millais.
The changes at No10 can be seen in Sir Keir’s recent meeting photos compared to when Rishi Sunak was in office.
The picture of the conversation with Volodymyr Zelensky last week clearly shows two other paintings where the picture of Elizabeth and Raleigh.
This moving painting of Elizabeth is believed to have been done by the Flemish artist Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger in 1592, according to the Telegraph.
Raleigh attempted to establish an English settlement in North Carolina, but ultimately failed amid clashes with Native Americans.
Gladstone’s painting is believed to have been removed from No10 as a copy of a work by John Everett Millais.
Although he did not personally hold Caribbean plantations, Gladstone’s father John was an important slave owner.
Early in his political career Gladstone supported compensation for slave owners to get out of the trade – something that many opponents of slavery also supported.
Then he proposed a proposal to help secure ‘the effective exclusion of slave-grown sugar’ from the domestic market.
Towards the end of his life, Gladstone also cited the abolition of slavery as one of the ten great achievements of the past sixty years in which ‘the masses have been right and the classes have been wrong’.
Gladstone, who was PM for four separate terms totaling 12 years in the late 19th century, was also responsible for major progressive reforms including extending the right to vote to millions of Britons and introducing the secret ballot.
He championed home rule for Ireland and the rights of the working class.
Lord Lexden, a political historian, told the Sunday Telegraph: ‘The prime minister who removed the portrait of Gladstone, one of the greatest men to serve our country, made a serious mistake.’
He added: ‘I hope he will not bow down to those who attack Gladstone as a supporter of slavery.’
Sir Keir has been criticized by the Tories for repurposing the £100.00 likeness of Lady Thatcher which was in Sir Keir’s study.
Speaking to the BBC last month, Sir Keir insisted that he was not happy with the portrait being hung while he was at work.
‘I use to study to read quietly most afternoons … where there is a difficult paper,’ he said.
‘This is not about Margaret Thatcher. I don’t like pictures and pictures of people staring at me.
‘I’ve been discovering it all my life. When I was a lawyer, I had a picture of a judge. I don’t like it. I like the landscape.
‘This is where I study, this is where I work. I don’t want people’s pictures.’
A portrait of Baroness Thatcher (pictured) was re-hung in the ‘first floor meeting room’ because Sir Keir found it ‘disturbing’.
