London, 8 September 2024 (PA Media/dpa/MIA) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said his decision to remove a portrait of his predecessor Margaret Thatcher from a study in his residence on Downing Street was not about her "at all."

Eyebrows were raised when reports emerged that Starmer would remove the painting from his private study at Number 10.

But the prime minister said the reason for the move was because he did not like the idea of pictures staring down at him while he worked.

He told the BBC’s "Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg" programme: "This is not actually about Margaret Thatcher at all. I don’t like images and pictures of people staring down at me."

Starmer added: “This is my study, it is my private place where I go to work. I didn’t want a picture of anyone.”

The portrait, commissioned by Gordon Brown in 2007, was hung in the room sometimes known as the Thatcher study by David Cameron.

Starmer's biographer Tom Baldwin revealed recently the portrait had been removed from the room as he found it “unsettling,” leading to backlash from some opposition commentators and politicians.