Relations between London and Brussels haven’t always been cordial in recent years. But red-faced staff in Whitehall’s Foreign Office will be grateful for local police in the Belgian capital after they recovered a collection of stolen historic paintings that were stolen from the British Ambassador to Nato’s official residence.
Four pieces of art that belong to the state collection went missing earlier this year, prompting the intervention of local law enforcement to solve the theft. The paintings in question were produced by a quartet of twentieth century British artists: Henry Marvell Carr’s San Vittore, Derek Clarke’s Runner Beans, Frederick Gore’s Puig Mayor from Fornalutx and Claude Maurice Rogers’ Harvest Cornfield. All four works are long-standing pieces in the Government Art Collection and were on loan to the ambassador’s residence.
In true Sir Humphrey fashion, the Foreign Office declined to provide a comment on the incident. Brussels Police has meanwhile been contacted for a statement. Still, it’s not the first security embarrassment that has faced the British delegation to Nato in recent months. In September, staff there welcomed Angus Lapsley – the civil servant who last year lost a 50-page dossier of secret documents at a Kent bus stop – as its new expert on ‘defence policy questions, including nuclear issues.’
Keep up the good work chaps.
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