Keir Starmer has removed portraits of William Gladstone, Elizabeth I and Walter Raleigh from No10, it was revealed today.
The paintings of the former PM, monarch and explorer appear to have been shifted as Sir Keir puts his own stamp on Downing Street.
Aides have stayed tight-lipped about the reasons for shifting images in the building.
However, there have long been attacks on Gladstone over his family’s involvement in slavery – with calls for statues to be removed and civic buildings renamed.
Elizabeth I is regarded as an early champion of the trade, while Raleigh was an early colonialist – and also reputed to have brought tobacco to England for the first time.
Sir Keir admitted last month he asked for a portrait of Margaret Thatcher to be relocated in No10 because he ‘doesn’t like people ‘staring down at me’.
Although he did not hold Caribbean plantations personally, Gladstone’s father John was a significant slave owner.
Early in his political career Gladstone supported compensation for slave owners to get out of the trade – something that was also backed by many opponents of slavery.
Later he advanced proposals to help secure the ‘effectual exclusion of slave-grown sugar’ from domestic markets.
Towards the end of his life, Gladstone also named the abolition of slavery as one of the ten great achievements of the previous sixty years on which ‘the masses had been right and the classes had been wrong’.
Gladstone, who served as PM for four separate terms totalling 12 years in the late 19th Century, was also responsible for major progressive reforms including extending voting rights to millions of Britons and introducing the secret ballot.
He championed home rule for Ireland and working-class rights.
The changes in No10 can be seen in photos of Sir Keir’s recent meetings compared to when Rishi Sunak was in office.
A picture of talks with Volodymyr Zelensky last week clearly shows two other paintings where images of Elizabeth and Raleigh had been.
The relocated Elizabeth painting is believed to be by the Flemish artist Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger in 1592, according to the Telegraph.
Raleigh tried to establish a British settlement in North Carolina, but ultimately failed amid clashes with Native Americans.
The Gladstone painting believed to have been removed from No10 is a copy of a work by John Everett Millais.
Although he did not hold Caribbean plantations personally, Gladstone’s father John was a significant slave owner.
Early in his political career Gladstone supported compensation for slave owners to get out of the trade – something that was also backed by many opponents of slavery.
Later he advanced proposals to help secure the ‘effectual exclusion of slave-grown sugar’ from domestic markets.
Towards the end of his life, Gladstone also named the abolition of slavery as one of the ten great achievements of the previous sixty years on which ‘the masses had been right and the classes had been wrong’.
Gladstone, who served as PM for four separate terms totalling 12 years in the late 19th Century, was also responsible for major progressive reforms including extending voting rights to millions of Britons and introducing the secret ballot.
He championed home rule for Ireland and working-class rights.
Lord Lexden, a political historian, told the Sunday Telegraph: ‘A prime minister who removes a portrait of Gladstone, one of the greatest men to serve our country, makes a grave error.’
He added: ‘I hope that he is not bowing the knee to those who attack Gladstone as a supporter of slavery.’
Sir Keir has been criticised by Tories for rehanging a £100,00 likeness of Lady Thatcher that had been in Sir Keir’s study.
Speaking to the BBC last month Sir Keir confirmed he has a longstanding aversion to portraits hanging over him while he works.
‘I use the study for quietly reading most afternoons … where there is a difficult paper,’ he said.
‘This is not actually about Margaret Thatcher at all. 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.
‘This is my study, it is my private place where I got to work. I didn’t want a picture of anyone.’