David Lammy rushed to replace a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II with pan-African flag artworks upon his appointment as Foreign Secretary following Labour’s election victory last year, according to reports.
The 2014 photograph of the late monarch, captured by renowned photographer David Bailey, was reportedly removed from the department’s Whitehall headquarters and placed into storage.
According to catalogue records, no images of Elizabeth II from the Government Art Collection remain on display at the Foreign Office.
In place of the royal portrait, the department has hung works by British-Ghanaian artist Larry Achiampong featuring pan-African flag designs.
Mr Achiampong’s green, yellow and red artworks, adorned with 54 black stars symbolising every African nation, were originally commissioned with Arts Council support.
The artworks, titled Pan African Flag For The Relic Travellers’ Alliance (Motion) and (Community), were originally created in 2017 to “consider the social and political climate of recent times; the rise of nationalism within the global West and tensions surrounding moments such as the United Kingdom’s leave ‘Brexit’ vote in 2016”.
Motion continues to be displayed, outlasting Mr Lammy’s own stint as Foreign Secretary before being reshuffled to the Justice Department, while Community was removed in late 2024.
Additional artworks have been placed in Lancaster House’s Green Room, where foreign dignitaries are received.
David Lammy replaced a portrait of Queen Elizabeth with pan-African flags when Foreign Secretary
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These include Lubaina Himid’s 2021 piece Old Boat, New Weather, which addresses “slavery and imperial trade” and colonialism’s “wrongs”.
Alongside it sits a miniature version of Yinka Shonibare’s Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle, featuring HMS Victory with African textile sails, according to The Telegraph.
Mr Shonibare described his work as a “celebration of London’s immense ethnic wealth, giving expression to and honouring the many cultures and ethnicities that are still breathing precious wind into the sails of the United Kingdom”.
Ministers are entitled to make decorative changes to their department offices, where they are invited to choose from the 15,000 artworks held in the Government Art Collection.
The portrait of the late Queen made way for works celebrating African heritage and addressing Britain’s colonial past
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It is intended to aid lawmakers flex British soft power to visiting dignitaries in official buildings.
Whilst several new Foreign Office artworks address colonial themes, the estate maintains traditional pieces depicting historical figures connected to British diplomacy.
These include paintings and sculptures of Winston Churchill, Admiral Lord Nelson and Charles James Fox, who served as Britain’s first foreign secretary.
Mr Lammy’s purging of the late Queen’s portrait followed a pruge of office portaits by Labour frontbenchers upon their July 2024 election win.
Both Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves also purged historical portraits upon entering office
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Upon taking office, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer removed Downing Street of portraits depicting William Shakespeare, Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Raleigh and his predecessors William Ewart Gladstone and Margaret Thatcher.
Next door in No11, Chancellor Rachel Reeves set about fulfilling a pledge to remove portraits of male figures from the residence.
Winston Churchill’s portrait was replaced with a woollen tapestry featuring an “unknown woman” while depictions of David Lloyd George and Benjamin Disraeli were substituted with artworks exploring mental health themes.
GB News has approached the Foreign Office for comment.