Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to remove a portrait of Margaret Thatcher from a Downing Street study was not about her “at all”, the Prime Minister said.

Eyebrows were raised by some in Westminster when reports emerged that Sir Keir would remove the painting of his predecessor from his private study at No 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.

This is not actually about Margaret Thatcher at all. I don’t like images and pictures of people staring down at me.

He told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “I use the study for quietly reading most afternoons where I have got to have… where there is a difficult paper that I need to.

“This is not actually about Margaret Thatcher at all.

“I don’t like images and pictures of people staring down at me.

“I’ve found it all my life.

“When I was a lawyer I used to have pictures of judges.

“I don’t like it. I like landscapes.”

Sir Keir added: “This is my study, it is my private place where I got 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.

The Prime Minister’s biographer Tom Baldwin revealed recently it the portrait had been removed from the room as Sir Keir found it “unsettling”, leading to backlash from some Tory-aligned commentators and politicians.