Tony Blair to be honoured with Parliament bust

By Rosa Silverman

Tony Blair could return to the House of Commons - but as a work of art rather than in person.
 

The former Labour Prime Minister is currently missing from the otherwise complete set of sculptures in the Members’ Lobby representing Prime Ministers of the 20th century.
 

But minutes from the Commons’ Works of Art Committee meetings, released under Freedom of Information legislation, reveal that Mr Blair has agreed to sit for a portrait bust of himself.
 

It is unclear how much taxpayers’ money will be spent on the artwork as the probable cost of the bust was redacted, but some of his sharpest critics are likely to resent the sum whatever it is.
 

The minutes from a meeting held on November 8 last year said: “It was proposed that a portrait bust of Tony Blair be commissioned during the 2010 Parliament.”
 
 
At a later meeting, after Mr Blair had agreed in principle, it was noted that “further negotiations about timings and artists would now need to take place.”
 
As well as the busts of every 20th century prime minister, the Members’ Lobby features statues of Sir Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George and Baroness Thatcher, who was the first person to be honoured in this way by the House of Commons during her lifetime.
 
Most of the busts are made of bronze. Robert Hornyold-Strickland, a sculptor who makes bronze busts, said a life-sized one could cost anything between £10,000 and £20,000.
 
Well-known sculptors could charge up to £50,000 for the work, he said.

It is not known what size the bust of Mr Blair is likely to be.

Plans for portraits of David Cameron, the Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, and Gordon Brown, the former prime minister have also been discussed by the committee.
 
The cost of these was also redacted from the minutes.

Last week it was reported that MPs and peers had spent £230,000 of taxpayers’ money on art.
 
A portrait of Harriet Harman, the deputy leader of the Labour Party, was mooted by committee members but Ms Harman is understood to have decided against going ahead with it.