The UK Treasuryʼs walls got a make-over today when Rachel Reeves changed the long-standing portrait setup behind her desk. In a quick-and-quiet move she switched out former chancellor Nigel Lawsons picture for one of Ellen Wilkinson (a pre-war Labour figure whose story is quite eye-catching)
Wilkinson had an interesting past: she helped start-up the Communist Party about a century ago but later switched to Labour becoming an MP for Middlesbrough East. Her biggest win was working on education rules that gave kids free school-time learning and milk; she also helped run air-raid shelters during war-time (which shows how multi-talented she was)
The switch fits with Reeves bigger plan to put more women on No 11ʼs walls - either as subjects or artists. Its not the first time Downing Street saw such changes: Sir Keir Starmer already made his mark by putting up different art in No 10‚ including work by Dame Paula Rego who likes painting strong-minded ladies
This whole art-swap thing has been going on for a while now; some traditional pieces got moved around like the portrait of Margaret Thatcher which found a new spot in a meeting room (after people werenʼt happy about its first removal). When asked about todays change‚ Treasury just said: “Change“