Keir Starmer breaks silence after fury over removing Margaret Thatcher portrait from No 10
The Prime Minister was asked about taking down a Margaret Thatcher portrait from his private study in 10 Downing Street.
Starmer shares why he removed Margaret Thatcher portrait
Sir Keir Starmer insisted his decision to remove a portrait of Margaret Thatcher from a Downing Street study was not about her "at all".
The Prime Minister faced a backlash after it emerged he had taken down a painting of the former Tory premier from his private study at No 10.
But Sir Keir claimed the reason for the move was because he did not like the idea of pictures staring down at him while he worked.
He told the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: "I use the study for quietly reading most afternoons where ... there is a difficult paper.
"This is not actually about Margaret Thatcher at all.
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"I don't like images and pictures of people staring down at me. I've found it all my life.
"When I was a lawyer I used to have pictures of judges. I don't like it. I like landscapes."
Sir Keir added: "This is my study, it is my private place where I got to work. I didn't want a picture of anyone."
The portrait, commissioned by Gordon Brown in 2007, was hung in the room sometimes known as the Thatcher study by David Cameron.
The Prime Minister's biographer Tom Baldwin revealed recently that the portrait had been removed from the room as Sir Keir found it "unsettling".
But the revelation led to backlash from some Tory politicians and commentators.
