Just four of 130 portraits in the Palace of Westminster depict people from BAME backgrounds
'As a black, female MP I find myself, and I feel surrounded by, 19th century dead white men in tights'
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Your support makes all the difference.A Labour MP has said that she is surrounded by “dead white men in tights”, after discovering just four of the 310 portraits hanging from Palace of Westminster’s walls depict people from black, Asian, and ethnic minority backgrounds.
Chi Onwurah, the shadow business minister, said Parliament needed to “strike a better balance” if it is to inspire schoolchildren who visit Westminster “and do not see what they can aspire to be on the walls”.
The figure means that just 1.3 per cent of the portraits in the Parliamentary Art Collection depict people from BAME backgrounds in the Palace.
Ms Onwurah uncovered who was depicted in the four BAME portraits through a written parliamentary question to the Commons Commission. They included: Dadabhoy Naoroji, the first Asian MP, Diane Abbott, the first black woman MP, Paul Boateng as the first black Cabinet minister and Baroness Amos as the first black leader of the House of Lords.
"As a black, female MP I find myself, and I feel surrounded by, 19th century dead white men in tights. And it doesn't inspire me and I feel for my constituents and particularly schoolchildren who come to Westminster and do not see what they can aspire to be on the walls,” the Labour MP said.
She added: "I recognise there is a challenge because there are certainly far more white men in tights who served in Parliament than British BAME people, but they need to strike a better balance."
A Commons spokeswoman said the Speaker's Advisory Committee has agreed to consider increasing BAME representation in the Parliamentary Art Collection.
She said: "The majority of the painted portraits in our collection are historical ones depicting members of the royal family and Parliamentarians pre-1900, of whom few were of black, Asian, or minority ethnic origin.
"The Speaker's Advisory Committee on Works of Art is committed to reflecting the diversity of the House today, and to recognising those who have influenced Parliament and contributed to its development in a notable way through the Parliamentary Art Collection.
"The Committee has agreed to give further consideration to the matter of BAME representation in the current Parliament."
In 2014, The London Evening Standard revealed that MPs had spent almost £250,000 on paintings and sculptures of their colleagues. Around £11,750 was spent on a full-sized statue of Margaret Thatcher and an artwork of Iain Duncan Smith, the former Work and Pensions Secretary, cost the taxpayer £10,000.
Additional reporting by Press Association
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