Starmer attacked for ‘petty’ removal of Thatcher portrait from No 10
Sir Keir Starmer has provoked outrage from senior Tories and political grandees for removing a portrait of Margaret Thatcher from inside 10 Downing Street.
Just eight weeks after he moved into Number 10, it has been claimed by his biographer that he found the £100,000 painting, commissioned by former Labour premier Gordon Brown, “unsettling”.
But his removal of the portrait has been condemned as “vindictive” and “petty” by Tory MPs and prompted calls for the prime minister to return it to its place inside Downing Street.
Sir Keir‘s apparent snub to Lady Thatcher, prime minister for 11 years from 1979 until 1990, is all the more remarkable because just months before the general election he lavished praise on her in a newspaper article.
In comments furiously attacked by trade union leaders and left-wing Labour MPs at the time, Sir Keir praised her for bringing about “meaningful change” in British politics.
“Margaret Thatcher sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism,” he wrote in The Sunday Telegraph last December.
Former prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Pic: PA
Sir Keir’s removal of the painting was revealed by Tom Baldwin, a senior adviser to Ed Miliband when he was Labour leader and author of insightful and acclaimed biography of Sir Keir.
The painting was commissioned by Mr Brown after Lady Thatcher visited him at Number 10 when he was prime minister.
It was funded by an anonymous £100,000 donation and unveiled in 2009.
Speaking at a book festival in Glasgow, Mr Baldwin said Sir Keir told him the portrait had been hung in a study in Downing Street unofficially called the “Thatcher Room”.
‘We don’t comment on the interior’
In a conversation first reported by Glasgow’s Herald newspaper, Mr Baldwin said Sir Keir told him the study was “place where we can go and have a quiet talk”.
He told his audience: “We sat there, and I go: ‘It’s a bit unsettling with her staring down at you like that, isn’t it?'”
He said the prime minister issued a one-word response: “Yeah.”
Mr Baldwin said he then asked if Sir Keir would “get rid of” the portrait, prompting a nod from Starmer. He then added: “And he has.”
Asked about the claims by Mr Baldwin about the removal of the portrait, a Downing Street spokesperson told Sky News: “We don’t comment on the interior of the house.”
But the widespread reporting of the painting’s removal has quickly triggered a furious row, with senior opposition politicians angrily denouncing the prime minister.
Leading the onslaught, former Northern Ireland first minister Baroness Arlene Foster, wrote on X: “I think it is ‘unsettling’ that the PM should remove the first female PM from No 10.
“He cannot deny her role in our nation – the most significant PM after Churchill. Not a good start from Labour, looks and feels vindictive and petty.”
‘Petty approach’
Former Tory minister Esther McVey told the Daily Express: “What a pathetic, petty-minded little man Keir Starmer is – removing a picture of the first female prime minister and one of the longest-serving prime ministers.
“Maybe he doesn’t want to be reminded of a towering politician he could never live up to.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
In Scotland, the three candidates for the leadership of the Scottish Conservative Party all attacked Mr Baldwin’s claims.
Russell Findlay said: “Gordon Brown commissioned this portrait after calling the first female prime minister ‘a conviction politician who saw the need for change’.
“I agree with Gordon Brown’s reasonable position to treat his political opponents with decency and respect… Keir Starmer seems to have a much more petty approach.”
Read more:
Esther McVey’s smoking ban tweet labelled ‘repugnant’
Pensioners face 243-questions for winter fuel payment
Rival leadership candidate Meghan Gallacher said: “It’s disgraceful that Keir Starmer would remove a picture of Britain’s first female prime minister…
“Regardless of your opinions on Margaret Thatcher, she paved the way for women in politics and tackled sexist stereotypes head-on.
“She’s an inspiration for many, a defining figure in British politics and she deserves to be recognised for her many achievements… Her legacy should be honoured – the portrait should be returned.”
‘Thatcher brutalised miners’
Sir Keir’s praise for Lady Thatcher in his Sunday Telegraph article in December led to furious complaints from critics of the Labour leader on the left of the party.
Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack said: “Her government deliberately inflicted mass unemployment and poverty on communities through a vindictive pit closures programme and the decimation of the manufacturing industry.
“Working people and entire regions of Britain are still living with the dire consequences of Thatcherism to this day.”
And left-wing Labour MP Ian Lavery, a former National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) president and a leading ally of Jeremy Corbyn, said: “My constituents do not in any way share this view. Thatcher brutalised the miners and their families.”
UK
Teenager living in ‘continuous pain’ after surgeon Dr Yaser Jabbar carried out ‘inappropriate’ operations
A 15-year-old boy who was operated on twice by a now unlicensed Great Ormond Street surgeon is living with “continuous” pain.
Finias Sandu has been told by an independent review the procedures he underwent on both his legs were “unacceptable” and “inappropriate” for his age.
The teenager from Essex was born with a condition that causes curved bones in his legs.
Aged seven, a reconstructive procedure was carried out on Finias’s left leg, lengthening the limb by 3.5cm.
A few years later, the same operation was carried out on his right leg which involved wearing an invasive and heavy metal frame for months.
He has now been told by independent experts these procedures should not have taken place and concerns have been raised over a lack of imaging being taken prior to the operations.
Yaser Jabbar rescinded his UK medical licence last year. Pic: LinkedIn
His doctor at London’s prestigious Great Ormond Street Hospital was former consultant orthopaedic surgeon Yaser Jabbar. Sky News has spoken to others he treated.
Mr Jabbar also did not arrange for updated scans or for relevant X-rays to be conducted ahead of the procedures.
The surgeries have been found to have caused Finias “harm” and left him in constant pain.
“The pain is there every day, every day I’m continuously in pain,” he told Sky News.
“It’s not something really sharp, although it does get to a certain point where it hurts quite a lot, but it’s always there. It just doesn’t leave, it’s a companion to me, just always there.”
Read more:
Girl who had leg amputated suffered harm during surgeon’s care
Child, 11, in wheelchair after surgeon’s operations
Hospital accused of ‘covering up’ concerns about suspended surgeon
Finias’s surgery pictures
Care of over 700 patients being assessed
Mr Jabbar rescinded his UK medical licence in January last year after working at Great Ormond Street between 2017 and 2022.
The care of his 700-plus patients is being assessed, with some facing corrective surgery, among them Finias.
“Trusting somebody is hard to do, knowing what they have done to me physically and emotionally, you know, it’s just too much to comprehend for me,” he said.
“It wasn’t something just physically, like my leg pain and everything else. It was emotionally, because I put my trust in that specific doctor. My parents and I don’t really understand the more scientific terms, we just went by what he said.”
Doctors refused to treat Finias because of his surgeries
Finias and his family relocated to their native Romania soon after the reconstructive frame was removed from his right leg in the summer of 2021.
The pain worsened and they sought advice from doctors in Romania, who refused to treat Finias because of the impact of his surgeries.
Dozens of families seeking legal claims
His mother Cornelia Sandu is “furious” and feels her trust in the hospital has been shattered. They are now among dozens of families seeking legal claims.
Cyrus Plaza from Hudgell Solicitors is representing the family. He said: “In cases where it has been identified that harm was caused, we want to see Great Ormond Street Hospital agreeing to pay interim payments of compensation for the children, so that if they need therapy or treatment now, they can access it.”
Finias is accessing therapy and mental health support as he prepares for corrective surgery later in the year.
A spokesperson for Great Ormond Street Hospital told Sky News: “We are deeply sorry to Finias and his family, and all the patients and families who have been impacted.
“We want every patient and family who comes to our hospital to feel safe and cared for. We will always discuss concerns families may have and, where they submit claims, we will work to ensure the legal process can be resolved as quickly as possible.”
Finias with his mother and sister
Service not ‘safe for patients’
Sky News has attempted to contact Mr Jabbar.
An external review into the wider orthopaedic department at the hospital began in September 2022.
It was commissioned after the Royal College of Surgeons warned the hospital’s lower limb reconstruction service was not “safe for patients or adequate to meet demand”.
The investigation is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Sir Keir Starmer has said closer ties with the EU will be good for the UK’s jobs, bills and borders ahead of a summit where he could announce a deal with the bloc.
The government is set to host EU leaders in London on Monday as part of its efforts to “reset” relations post-Brexit.
A deal granting the UK access to a major EU defence fund could be on the table, according to reports – but disagreements over a youth mobility scheme and fishing rights could prove to be a stumbling block.
The prime minister has appeared to signal a youth mobility deal could be possible, telling The Times that while freedom of movement is a “red line”, youth mobility does not come under this.
His comment comes after Kaja Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, said on Friday work on a defence deal was progressing but “we’re not there yet”.
Sir Keir met European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen later that day while at a summit in Albania.
Ursula von der Leyen and Sir Keir had a brief meeting earlier this week. Pic: PA
If agreed, the deal will be the third in two weeks, following trade agreements with India and the US.
Sir Keir said: “First India, then the United States – in the last two weeks alone that’s jobs saved, faster growth and wages rising.
“More money in the pockets of British working people, achieved through striking deals not striking poses.
“Tomorrow, we take another step forward, with yet more benefits for the United Kingdom as the result of a strengthened partnership with the European Union.”
Read more:
Humza Yousaf hits out at Starmer’s ‘dog whistle’ stance on immigration
MPs criticise terminally ill Esther Rantzen’s assisted dying intervention
👉 Click here to follow Electoral Dysfunction wherever you get your podcasts 👈
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said she is “worried” about what the PM might have negotiated.
Ms Badenoch – who has promised to rip up the deal with the EU if it breaches her red lines on Brexit – said: “Labour should have used this review of our EU trade deal to secure new wins for Britain, such as an EU-wide agreement on Brits using e-gates on the continent.
“Instead, it sounds like we’re giving away our fishing quotas, becoming a rule-taker from Brussels once again and getting free movement by the back door. This isn’t a reset, it’s a surrender.”
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway