‘Wasteful’, say Britons as Tories plan to spend $9.8 million on free portraits of King Charles III
King Charles III's portrait is painted by artist Alastair Barford.
The British government is set to spend over $9.8 million (£8 million) supplying free portraits of King Charles III to public council offices, courts, schools, police forces, fire and rescue services. The scheme has been unveiled to celebrate the reign of the new king who took charge after the death of Queen Elizabeth II last year.
The Cabinet Office justified the decision to spend the money on the exercise saying the posters would serve as a 'visible reminder' to the public about the splendour of their new king.
"We have entered a new reign in our history. Now, as we unite in preparing for the splendour of the King's Coronation, these new portraits will serve as a visible reminder in buildings up and down the country of the nation's ultimate public servant," said Oliver Dowden, Cabinet Office minister.
The scheme will kick in after the king's coronation is scheduled to take place later this year. After the official posters are released by Buckingham Palace, the eligible public authorities will be offered the opportunity to request the free framed portrait.
The move to spend'extravagant' sums of money on the posters attracted instant backlash with anti-monarchist groups opening up a front.
“At a time when a majority of local councils are raising taxes and cutting public services, when schools and hospitals are struggling, to spend even £1 on this nonsense would be £1 too much,” said Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchist group Republic.
“Surely if anyone really wants an official portrait he can stump up the cost. The government has lost the plot if they think people want their money spent on pictures of Charles.”
Ordinary Britons are currently facing one of the worst cost-of-living-crisis. The annual rate of inflation reached 11.1 per cent in October 2022, a 41-year high, before easing down. However, since January, it has been on another upswing with the rate standing at 10.4 per cent in February.
In recent months, the Tories have come under heavy scrutiny for their use of the taxpayers' money. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been one of the worst offenders with his spending becoming the subject of routine controversy.
A government report published on Friday stated that Sunak spent as much as $617,249 (£500,000) in under a fortnight on private jet trips last year.
The numbers were released by the cabinet office and detailed that Sunak spent £108,000 on a jet to travel to and from the COP27 summit in Egypt last year. A week later, the 10, Downing Street resident jetted off to the southeast Asian country of Indonesia to attend the G20 summit in Bali. The total cost of the round trip came about to £340,000.
Recently, it was reported that Sunak got the local electricity grid upgraded for his $4,80,000 (£400,000) private heating swimming pool in the North Yorkshire home.
The Labour Party earlier this year announced it was launching a campaigntargettingthe Conservatives for indiscriminate spending of taxpayers' money on luxury travel and hotels.
(With inputs from agencies)
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