Sir Keir Starmer, the UK’s new leftist Prime Minister, is removing the historical portraits from No. 10 Downing Street and replacing them with “strong and courageous” women. However, the women he is removing are considered strong and courageous women.
He removed the portraits of Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh, saying they were tied to slavery and colonialism. Before that, he removed William Ewart Gladstone and Margaret Thatcher. He’s replacing them with Dame Paula Rego’s “strong and courageous women.”
Starmer said he took down Thatcher because he doesn’t like portraits of people staring down at him and prefers landscapes.
The new works are scenes from Crivelli’s Garden with strong women in them.
The former government allegedly planned the changes. They are commemorating the 125th anniversary of the Government Art Collection by pandering to feminists.
Many Brits aren’t pleased because the portraits had been symbols of Britain’s history and greatness in rooms where heads of state meet. In other words, he is erasing their history. Others are angry that Starmer is too harshly criticized. The country is divided on most issues.
Robert Jenrick, the Conservative leadership hopeful, said: “Elizabeth I was one of our most iconic female leaders. She’s a hero I love to talk to my daughters about.
“Stripping her portrait from Downing Street – alongside Walter Raleigh’s – seems to betray a strange dislike of our history by this Labour Government.”
The portraits he has removed so far are by long-gone classical artists.
These are the replacements of the Portuguese painter Paula Rego. The first one is from her feminist works.
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