THE Scottish Conservatives have reacted with anger after Keir Starmer reportedly ordered a portrait of Margaret Thatcher removed from Downing Street.
The Herald reported on Thursday that, according to his biographer, the Prime Minister found the painting of the former Conservative leader “unsettling.”
Speaking at an event organised by Glasgow’s Aye Write book festival, former Labour adviser Tom Baldwin said he was recently taken to the painting's room by the Labour leader.
He said Starmer described it as a “place where we can go and have a quiet talk.”
“We sat there, and I go, ‘It’s a bit unsettling with her staring down as you like that, isn’t it’?”
He said the Prime Minister replied: “Yeah.”
Baldwin then asked if he would "get rid of it". The writer said Starmer nodded, and added: “And he has.”
The news comes despite Starmer having repeatedly praised Thatcher in public, sparking controversy.
Writing in the Telegraph in December last year, the Labour leader claimed that Thatcher brought "meaningful change" to Britain.
Then-SNP leader Humza Yousaf said the comments were an "insult" to communities in Scotland and across the UK "who still bear the scars of her disastrous policies".
Scottish Tory leadership contenders Russell Findlay, Murdo Fraser, and Meghan Gallacher all criticised the Prime Minister for removing the painting, which was commissioned by Gordon Brown in 2007.
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.”
Fraser 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."
And 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."
The portrait of Thatcher was painted by royal artist Richard Stone, with an anonymous donor paying the £100,000 fee.
