Sir Keir Starmer has come under fire from senior tories after reportedly removing a portrait of William Shakespeare from Downing Street.
The 18th-century portrait of the Bard by Louis Francois Roubiliac has been taken down and placed in storage, according to the Telegraph.
The newspaper previously said portraits of Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Raleigh, William Ewart Gladstone and Margaret Thatcher have been taken down since the new prime minister took office.
Sir Oliver Dowden, a former Tory culture secretary, said: “The Prime Minister spent the election loudly proclaiming his patriotism, but now the election is over he’s succumbing to the usual Left-wing cringing embarrassment about our past.
“Not content with removing Thatcher, Gladstone, Raleigh and Elizabeth I, he’s now consigning Shakespeare to the dustbin.
“Downing Street receives thousands of distinguished visitors every year. He should be using it to proclaim the greatest writer in the English language, not engaging in this philistinism.”
Robert Jenrick, the Tory leadership candidate, said: “We should celebrate and extol great figures in English history and stop being embarrassed by our identity. No other country would behave like this.”
The portrait of the write is part of the Government Art Collection.
But prime ministers are entitled to use the collection to decorate Downing Street.
A number 10 official said that the prime minister’s office did not comment on the choices of paintings.
However, incoming prime minister’s are entitled to change the decor.
Many of Shakespeare’s plays were written during the reign of Elizabeth I. Her portrait has also been taken off the wall at Downing Street.
Raleigh, whose painting has been removed, was a key figure in the colonisation of North America.
