During Boris Johnson’s tenure, No 10. Downing Street seemed to anthropomorphise into being political actors itself. From partygate to wallpapergate, Britain’s most famous address frequently featured in the headlines amid a myriad of Brexit and Covid dramas. So perhaps it is no surprise then that Rishi Sunak has already begun putting his stamp on the building and making the house feel like home.
Mr S can reveal that the Prime Minister has raided the Government Art Collection to hang an eighteenth century print of ‘The South West Prospect of Richmond’ on his walls, in a nod to his Yorkshire constituency. Other artwork now proudly displayed in No. 10 include Graham Sutherland’s painting ‘Origins of the Land No.1′ – created for the Festival of Britain in 1951 – and Chila Kumari Singh Burman’s ‘Bengal Tiger Van’ in a nod to a British Indian ice cream salesman of the 1960s.
More modern millenial touches are provided by Tunji Adeniyi-Jones’ painting ‘Poetic Feet’ and Louise Giovanelli’s print ‘Ambia I’. Lubaina Himid offers a perfect political metaphor in ‘Old Boat, New Weather’ while Sunak also boasts a seventeenth century portrait of the Tower of London by Johann Spilberg II. Perhaps that’s where he’d like to some of his predecessors…
Sunak is not the only minister with a visual reminder that ‘all politics is local.’ His next-door neighbour Jeremy Hunt sits for South West Surrey and has duly chosen William Johnstone’s ‘Surrey Landscape’ while Michael Tomlinson, the Solicitor General, prefers a Lyme Regis print for his Dorset constituency. John Glen, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, likes looking at John Constable and David Lucas’s vision of Salisbury Cathedral.
Yorkshireman Kevin Hollinrake has plumped for Cornelius Copner Wambey’s painting of ‘Richmond Castle’ to hang in his room in the Department for Business and Trade. Penny Mordaunt, the Portsmouth MP, has chosen several nautical depictions alongside a trio of parliamentary pictures to suit her role as Leader of the House.
And this being a Tory government, some choose to decorate their offices with grander flourishes. Edward Argar selected Winston Churchill’s ‘Seascape’ with George Freeman going for a portrait of Nelson and Therese Coffey selecting Cecil Beaton’s snap of composer Benjamin Britten. Julia Lopez has used her culture brief to bag Grayson Perry’s ‘Print of a Politician’ while Steve Baker has gone for Mark Titchner’s series of digital prints on aluminium titled ‘Some questions about us.’ Oliver Dowden has meanwhile enlivened his Cabinet Office base with a trio of battle depictions by Joshua Ross junior. Expecting trouble perhaps?
There’s also a knowing nod from Jesse Norman, author of an excellent biography on Edmund Burke, who chose a painting of the aforementioned philosopher as his only piece of artwork at the Department for Transport. Chris Heaton Harris, the Northern Irish Secretary, went for David Shrigley’s ink drawing titled ‘We Are All Walking Tightropes. Every Single One of Us’ – appropriate for a man tasked with restoring power-sharing at Stormont.
Talk about mastering the art of politics…
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