Keir Starmer sparks debate after removing 'unsettling' Margaret Thatcher painting from No 10

Sir Keir Starmer has sparked fresh criticism from his Tory rivals this week (in addition to the pre-existing fury over a potential extension of the smoking ban to certain outdoor areas), after his biographer said the prime minister has had an “unsettling” painting of Margaret Thatcher removed from a study room in No 10.

Commissioned by former PM Gordon Brown and unveiled at a private reception in 2009, the artwork was painted by Richard Stone and cost £100,000 – it was the first painting of a former prime minister to be commissioned by Downing Street.

Except, according to Tom Baldwin (who published Keir Starmer: The Biography earlier this year), Starmer has since had the artwork removed.

He told an audience at an Aye Write book festival event: “We sat there [in No 10], and I go: ‘It’s a bit unsettling with her staring down at you like that, isn’t it?’”

Apparently, Starmer replied ‘yes’, nodded when he was asked if he would “get rid of it” and – Baldwin added – “he has”.

The reports are despite the PM penning a piece for The Telegraph in December – ahead of the anticipated (and eventual) general election months later – in which he praised the controversial politician and said she “sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by letting loose our natural entrepreneurialism”, in a bid to appeal to Tory readers of the right-leaning newspaper.

Days later, he insisted he wasn’t a fan of the late PM, said he “profoundly disagrees” with some of the actions she took while in government, that she did “terrible things” and caused “huge damage” across the UK.

Starmer told a crowd in Scotland: “The point I was trying to make in a piece that was penned last week was that there are some political leaders who have a mission, a plan, that they implement.

“Thatcher, whether you liked her or you didn’t like her, you couldn’t say she didn’t have a plan, or a mission.

“You can say someone has a mission and a plan and disagree profoundly with them.”

Now, though, Starmer has been accused of “pettiness” over his opting to get rid of the art:

A number argued the previous Conservative government painting over a cartoon mural at a centre for asylum seekers was more outrageous:

While Tony Blair spin doctor turned The Rest Is Politics co-host Alastair Campbell pointed out that a portrait of Thatcher (along with other ex-PMs) can still be found on the walls of the Downing Street staircase:

Thatcher died in April 2013, with critics of the first female prime minister later managing to get “Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead” up to number two in the official charts in response to her passing.

The number one spot, if you were wondering, went to the far less politically charged dance track from Duke Dumont and A*M*E, “Need U (100%)”.

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.