Jeremy Corbyn is already offering the country a radical political alternative, and if he becomes prime minister this week he could take No 10 into a more modern artistic direction.
The Labour leader has hinted that he would reject the government’s valuable collection of works by Constable, Lucian Freud and Barbara Hepworth for a splatter painting by a virtually unknown 63-year-old amateur artist named Bosh.
Mr Corbyn bought one of Bosh’s paintings for £80 from a charity stall at an Islington art festival in 2013. “I enjoy abstract art and I’ve got friends around here who have painted some,” he told The Sunday Times. The painting was sold by the Peter Bedford Housing Association, which supports vulnerable adults in London.
If Labour wins the election, Mr Corbyn said that he would ask the charity for another one. “I’d invite them to sell me something to put up,” he said. Bosh, whose real name is Roy Appleton, was delighted at the prospect of his painting hanging in No 10. “Seeing my work there would sure get my mojo back,” he said. “It’s lovely news — fame at last.” When Theresa May became prime minister, she picked pictures of Oxford and a country church from the government’s collection of 13,500 paintings and sculptures for hanging in No 10.
•Banksy, the graffiti artist, has encouraged voters in constituencies around Bristol to vote for any party but the Conservatives by offering an “election souvenir” for anyone who sent him an image of their completed ballot paper. The offer appears to be a breach of electoral law, which prohibits anyone from inducing a voter “to display his ballot paper after he has marked it so as to make known to any person the name of the candidate for whom he has or has not voted”.
Advertisement
The offer also risks being seen as a bribe. Crimestoppers, which works with the Electoral Commission, states on its website: “It’s illegal to offer money or gifts to voters, directly or indirectly, to get someone to vote a certain way, or not to vote at all.”
A notice on the artist’s website said that he would provide a limited edition work for people registered in six constituencies around the city.
“Simply send in a photo of your ballot paper from polling day showing you voted against the Conservative candidate and this complimentary gift will be mailed you.”
The notice was accompanied by an image of a girl next to a heart-shaped balloon decorated with the Union Jack that has been swept away by the wind.
The website’s announcement features a “lawyer’s note” claiming that the print has “no monetary value, is for amusement purposes only and strictly not for re-sale”.
