Downing Street Says » Baroness Thatcher

» Monday, November 23, 2009

Baroness Thatcher

Asked why the event was being described as private, the PMS said that it was private in the sense that we were not providing a media facility inside Number 10. It would be a very special occasion and the Prime Minister was looking forward to welcoming Baroness Thatcher to Number 10.

Put that previously there had been pictures of the Prime Minister greeting Baroness Thatcher on the front steps and would that be the case this time, the PMS said that there would be photos on the front steps.

Asked who had paid for the portrait, the PMS said that it had been paid for by a private donor. Put that last time there had been some criticism of the Prime Minister for “exploiting” Baroness Thatcher and was it the case that this time Baroness Thatcher had asked for it to be private, the PMS said that the idea that the Prime Minister had “exploited” Baroness Thatcher was completely wrong.

Asked who was paying for the event, the PMS said that Number 10 events were paid for out of the appropriate Government budget. Asked if the donor had any links to the main political parties, the PMS said that by definition the private donor wished to remain private.

Asked where the picture would be hung, the PMS said that it would be hung in the State Rooms lobby. Asked if there were any other portraits of Baroness Thatcher hanging in Downing Street, the PMS said there wasn’t. Asked if there was a portrait of John Major hanging in Downing Street, the PMS said he was fairly sure there wasn’t but he would check.

Asked who had painted the portrait, the PMS said that the artist’s name was Richard Stone, one of Britain’s most celebrated portrait artists.

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Post a public comment

Name (required)
E-mail (required)
(You must give an email address, but it will not be displayed to the public.)
Website
(You may give your website, and it will be displayed to the public.)

Comments:

This is not a way of contacting the Prime Minister. If you would like to contact the Prime Minister, go to the 10 Downing Street official site.

Privacy note: Shortly after posting, your name and comment will be displayed on the site. This means that people searching for your name on the Internet will be able to find and read your comment.

Original PMOS briefings are © Crown Copyright. Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland. Click-use licence number C02W0004089. Material is reproduced from the original 10 Downing Street source, but may not be the most up-to-date version of the briefings, which might be revised at the original source. Users should check with the original source in case of revisions. Comments are © Copyright contributors. Everything else is © Copyright Downing Street Says.