To Downing Street, where a painting of a former prime minister has been causing quite a stir lately. Sir Keir Starmer found himself at loggerheads with a number of Conservative politicians last week when it transpired the Labour PM had removed a portrait of Margaret Thatcher from the former No. 10 study – after he’d agreed the Gordon Brown-commissioned painting was ‘a bit unsettling’. While Starmer was slammed for his ‘petty approach’ by Tory politicians, it now turns out that the portrait has found a new home – in a first floor visitor meeting room. Talk about a downgrade…

The revelation – which emerged during an interview with Starmer’s biographer Tom Baldwin at Glasgow’s Aye Write book festival – has continued to attract criticism from Sir Keir’s rivals, however. Ex-Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg blasting the PM’s ‘spiteful’ decision. ‘The portrait should be returned to its rightful place in the study where she worked. It was a spiteful, petty decision by Sir Keir, which he should have the grace to reverse as quickly as possible,’ fumed the GB News presenter. Meanwhile Sir John Redwood, who once led Thatcher’s policy unit, raged: ‘I’m not at all surprised he’s done this. He wouldn’t want to be embarrassed by comparison with a far better prime minister.’ Burn…

It hasn’t been the most positive time for Sir Keir. Alongside the backlash over the Iron Lady’s painting, his party is also facing accusations of cronyism over some rather curious civil service appointments. In fact, Starmer’s own favourability rating reached a new low of -16 last week, while the Labour government’s approval rating has, according to YouGov, recorded a ‘much lower’ score compared to previous governments at the same point. As parliament returns – on Sir Keir’s own birthday – the PM will no doubt be hoping his party’s fortunes start to improve, and quick…