So apparently this is the big stink in UK politics right now:
Keir Starmer has had a portrait of Margaret Thatcher removed from No 10 Downing Street, according to his biographer.
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.
Speaking 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.
Baldwin added: “And he has.” […]
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”.
Murdo Fraser, a Scottish Tory leadership candidate, said: “It seems like a churlish move, but perhaps Sir Keir Starmer was intimidated by the gaze of a world-renowned leader whose achievements he will never come close to matching.”
I personally don’t find it unsettling except insofar as any portrait of Thatcher is unsettling purely by depicting her. But, you know, fuck it anyway. There’s bound to be some room in Parliament where it can go. Or maybe Jacob Rees-Mogg can use it to masturbate to. Or something like that.
