Portraits of Winston Churchill and other well-known British Prime Ministers have been taken down from the walls of Parliament following Labour’s 2024 election victory.
After winning 412 seats in the House of Commons, Sir Keir Starmer and Labour returned to government for the first time in 14 years in July 2024 following the general election.
Although Starmer had pledged to make numerous changes if elected, The Telegraph has disclosed that rearranging the decorations in Parliament was reportedly one of the first items on the Labour agenda.
Just days after Starmer’s July 4 election victory, five portraits of William Gladstone, the four-time Conservative Prime Minister, were taken down from Parliament’s walls, along with five photographs of former Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell.
And a few days later the new Government removed portraits of the Duke of Wellington among a host of other well-known British figures, before taking down ‘drawings, prints and photographs of Winston Churchill.’
Five images of the former Prime Minister were pulled down from the parliamentary estate including one photo from Portcullis House, Parliament’s main office building, showing Churchill standing at the Cenotaph in 1945, according to the Telegraph.
Any new Government has a pick of the Parliamentary Art Collection, which has more than 26,000 portraits, drawings and pictures from which the buildings can be decorated.
Following news of Labour’s re-decoration, a spokesman for UK Parliament told The Telegraph: ‘There are more than 26,000 items within Parliament’s Collections, and there are regular movements, for example, due to maintenance works in an area, changes to the occupancy of spaces and conservation needs.’
The collection underwent an audit following 2020’s Black Lives Matter movement, and it is believed that many of the photos removed were selected because of their ties to Britain’s colonial history.
The portraits of Charles I, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, Lord Salisbury, and poet John Milton were also taken down.
It was reported by MailOnline in 2023 that almost 200 artworks had gone missing from the enormous parliamentary collection.
Among the items missing were paintings, drawings, pictures from a century ago, and even a life-size sculpture.
It was not made clear whether any of the pieces were stolen, but a Freedom of Information request from Mail Online revealed that 199 pieces could not be located.
An 1801 portrait of William Pitt the Younger, a 19th-century sketch of William Gladstone and a six-foot-high sculpture of Queen Victoria were among the pictures missing.
At the time, a spokesperson for the House of Commons said: ‘Parliament is continuing to address collection objects historically identified as missing or not located through ongoing audits and regular reviews across the estate.
‘The number of objects catalogued as missing or not located is only true at the time of request and may differ over time.
‘Parliament has an ongoing programme to address the matter, through comprehensive and regular audits, recently resulting in a 5 per cent reduction in objects identified as missing since 2021.’
It appears that our Labour government does not want to be reminded of the importance of having a strong backbone and prioritising our nation and its people.
I do hope that these heirlooms have been carefully packed away because they will be back soon when Starmer’s lot has failed us. Having a great man like Churchill looking down on the weak effects of Starmer evidently intimidated him and his comrades.
It seems like Starmer has an inferiority complex and he could never stand in the same boots as Churchill. If there was a war, Starmer would be standing there waving a white flag.
Perhaps they’re endeavouring to reinvent history, and in the end, ‘Lest We Forget’ will be a thing of the past, and removing the portraits of Sir Winston Churchill is offending his memory and legacy, and the courageous people who gave their lives for their country and future generations.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 