Thatcher's Portrait Removed From 10 Downing Street

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is being accused of appeasing the left by removing a portrait of late Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher from her former study at 10 Downing Street.

The prime minister, who was elected in July, had the portrait removed because he reportedly found it "unsettling," The Daily Mail reported Friday.

The prime minister's office has confirmed reports by Starmer's biographer, Tom Baldwin, that the portrait was removed from the Thatcher Room, which the new prime minister is not using as his study.

Baldwin said in an interview that he was taken to the room where the Thatcher portrait, which was funded by an anonymous donor and unveiled in 2009 after Starmer told him the late prime minister's study was a "place where we can go and have a private talk."

"We sat there, and I go, 'It's a bit unsettling with her staring down at you like that, isn't it?'" Baldwin said, noting that Starmer agreed.

Baldwin added that he asked the prime minister if he would "get rid of it," and Starmer nodded.

Baldwin said in a social media post Thursday that he believes the portrait is "hanging somewhere else in the building now, or that's what's planned," reports the BBC.

Government minister Jacqui Smith, pressed on the controversy Friday, told GB News that her boss who had once praised Thatcher for bringing "meaningful change" to their country, "can't win," reports Politico.

"A few months ago he was being criticized for talking about Margaret Thatcher's legacy and the elements of her leadership that he respected, and now he's being criticized for asking for a few pictures to be moved around," Smith said, adding that a portrait of Thatcher remains in a Downing Street gallery with all former prime ministers.

She did not specify, however, where the removed portrait was taken.

"Just to be clear, there are portraits of Margaret Thatcher as there are of all previous prime ministers in No. 10, and that, of course, is absolutely right," Smith said.

The portrait, which shows the Iron Lady when she was at the top of her powers after the Falklands War in 1982, was commissioned in 2007 by then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown and painted by royal portrait artist Richard Stone. It was the first painting of a former prime minister to be commissioned by Downing Street.

Sir John Redwood, who had headed Thatcher's policy unit, said he's "not at all surprised" that Starmer would order the portrait removed, because "he wouldn't want to be embarrassed by comparison with a far better prime minister."

However, Redwood called the new prime minister "pessimistic" and said he was "very relieved" that Starmer wouldn't want the Thatcher portrait looking over him.

"I can quite understand why he would find that deeply embarrassing," he said. "Margaret Thatcher believed in the British people and knew we had great opportunities and great talents and there was nothing we couldn't do. She was positive and optimistic, and he is pessimistic, negative and nasty."

Former Tory Cabinet minister Sir John Whittingdale, Thatcher's political secretary, said the portrait was an "important part of history" and hung in a room that was "much associated with her."

Taking down the portrait, he added, "looks like playing to the left, who do not share most people's admiration of her and he's probably appeasing his left-wing backbenchers."

Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith called Starmer's action "petty."

"As soon as he gets in he wants to get rid of Margaret Thatcher's picture," he said. "Why? Because that is red meat to his hard left. It's a very simple gesture that says to the hard left, 'Don't worry, I share your view of Thatcher as well.'"

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