12-02-2025
Reeves replaces portraits of former PMs with art commemorating lockdown
Rachel Reeves has swapped paintings of former prime ministers and royalty from No 11 for artworks commemorating lockdown, The Telegraph can reveal.
The Chancellor has removed portraits depicting her famed male predecessors David Lloyd George and Benjamin Disraeli, who both led the Treasury before leading the country.
Portraits of British monarchs have also disappeared from No 11's walls since Labour won the election.
Instead, the hallways are graced with abstract depictions of 'social distancing' and Covid anxiety.
The changes follow a commitment from the Chancellor to remove artworks featuring male sitters and those created by male artists.
It also comes as part of an artistic purge in Downing Street which has seen Sir Keir Starmer rid No 10 of portraits depicting Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Raleigh, Margaret Thatcher and William Shakespeare.
All works are part of the Government Art Collection, typically used to project British soft power during official visits.
Incoming ministers are entitled to use the collection to decorate their offices.
From the collection of 15,000 works, Ms Reeves has selected a piece titled 'Covid Anxiety 5 (Mask Disorder)' for display.
The work by Donna Coleman features an abstract human head formed by a red squiggle, and appears alongside another work titled Misunderstood, featuring a charcoal swirl fronted by a black square.
The artist has said that the paintings explore 'how social media affects people's wellbeing'.
Also chosen for No 11 are the pieces Portrait of a Woman (Invisible Virus) numbers 46 and 47, part of a 'Quarantine Collage' by artist Lisa Fielding-Smith. The images, which are among the replacements for the more traditional portraiture, are formed of cut-outs from women's magazines.
A portrait of Lloyd George by Sir William Orpen, a high society painter, was taken down following Labour's election win. The Liberal statesman served as chancellor from 1908 to 1915, and as prime minister from 1916 to 1922.
A marble bust of Disraeli by Charles Bell Birch was also removed. The Jewish Conservative peer also served as chancellor several times, and headed British imperial policy as prime minister twice, first in 1868 and then from 1874 to 1880.
Meanwhile, officials have further removed a terracotta bust of Charles James Fox, the radical Whig politician, who served as foreign secretary from 1803 to 1806.
A portrait of James I, the first King of a united British kingdom, was taken down in the wake of Ms Reeves's move into Downing Street, along with a painting of James II.
The latter painting was installed by Rishi Sunak when he was chancellor, despite the image being under a Black Lives Matter-inspired 'review' into James's links to the slave trade.
Ms Reeves has also installed a statuette of Suffragist leader Millicent Fawcett. The piece served as the model for the large-scale work installed in Parliament Square.
A portrait of Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough has also been placed in No 11. The wife of the first Duke of Marlborough was portrayed by Rachel Weisz in the 2018 film The Favourite as the lover and friend of Queen Anne.
In 2024, Ms Reeves said she wanted to make space for artworks that were either 'of a woman or by a woman', although works by men remain on display.
Next door, there has been no explicit policy for what should or should not be displayed in No 10, but several famous historical figures have had their portraits removed from the Prime Minister's residence.
Sir Keir was accused of 'philistinism' when The Telegraph revealed that a portrait of Shakespeare had been taken down, leaving no images of the globally revered writer in Downing Street.
The Treasury has been contacted for comment.
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