You couldn't make this one up. It's on the Press Association we site, (I'm no good at adding linky things on here).
We're all supposed to be tightening our belts and sharing the pain and this joker spends £22,000 on an oil painting of himself and another £15,000 on the frame. FFS. I know where I'd like to tighten my belt.
Strike my beauties, strike!
His own, or public money?
Public money of course. These guys aren't stupid and aren't going to waste their own money on this kind of tat when we'll all pay for it!
The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, has unveiled a portrait of himself and a lovely new coat of arms … all for the bargain price of 37,000 taxpayer pounds.The coat of arms was clearly designed by a team of lefty liberal PR consultants with a brief to produce a coat of arms so nauseatingly politically correct and “progressive” that even the Guardian couldn’t find anything to disapprove of and therefore ignored it. It has a ladder to show how he’s climbed the social ladder from comprehensive-educated son of a taxi driver to MP and Speaker. It has Lib Dem gold roundels to represent his love of tennis and his position as ex-officio head of the Boundary Commissions for England, Scotland, Wales and NI. The main part of the shield is divided half and half Labour red and Tory blue. The motto is “All are equal” with the words separated by pink triangles with the back of the scroll the motto is written on a gay pride rainbow pattern to show his commitment to championing the rights of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender people. It also includes two swords to represent the county of Essex where he went to university. The use of Lib Dem gold, Labour red and Tory blue was deliberate to show his “impartiality”.
Well worth the money as well........
Hmm - I wonder if you'd get away with applying a tourniquet to his neck for say when he gets his brass neck treated.
15 k for frame FFS the painting might be worth it but for a frame
But is it art?
Not bad tbh
you fools have no understanding of art, this is an important piece and well worth the pittance paid.
that painting has ommited one great feature of his - a big massive 
on his head
It is a rather nice painting
I think its a good painting. Is spending public money on art bad? The subject matter might be questionable.
It's a commons tradition, and it's supporting art in a small way.
That coat of arms though - Christ on a bike.
Is spending public money on art bad?
Not at all. It's when you start wasting it on healthcare, that my mate Dave has a problem.
They have forgotten the 2nd line of text in that coat of arms "But some are more equal than others"
Is spending public money on art bad?
You can get a poster for £10 to fil a space on a wall.
I'm guessing the Daily Mail has a hand in the reporting of this, therefore its a fantasy rant for a nothing good to write about Attila the Hun day. Right?
I have the utmost support towards public funding of the arts. I assume for the £37k they have hired a graduate artist to paint every member of the commons for a year?
Looks a bit like a photoshop paintbrush filter applied to a photo to me...
(I'm sure it's not, but that's what it reminds me of)
Isn't this sort of thing all part of the history of our country?
Do you look at paintings of Tudor gentry, and countless others of this type in galleries all over the country and think "ruddy 'ell - you could have bought a 100 goats for what that would have cost!"
However much of a prat we think he is, as speaker of the house he's part of our history and people 3 to 400 years from now will study this painting, and this period in history (and still conclude he really was a bit of a prat!).
as speaker of the house he's part of our history
The speaker of the house is nothing but a pimple on the nose of history.
In that case perhaps we should get a painting done of the NHS on the grounds that that will soon be part of our history?
£37K is small beer compared to Lord Irvines wallpaper from a few years ago.
Do you look at paintings of Tudor gentry....
Not really. But I bet artists were cheap in them days.
Personally I think he should have shopped around a bit more. £22,000 sounds well over the top.
This firm will do you a top notch oil painting for about 200 quid. And they don't even need to see you - just send them a recent photo of yourself.
Agree with the photo shop filter comment. Might as well of done a photo.
You can all fek right off it took me ages. 
what;s the difference between that and taxpayers' money being used to build new infrastructure in order to boost the economy?
The artist and the framemaker are presumably small businesses who need someone to buy their stuff in order to survive/pay their employees/buy stuff from their suppliers etc?
I think it's something to do with new infrastructure being useful.
what;s the difference between that and taxpayers' money being used to build new infrastructure in order to boost the economy?
Quite a lot, I suspect David Cameron would say.
I assume that the House Of Commons oil painting budget hasn't been cut by 60% like the social housing budget has.
How much of a house or indeed houses would £37k have built?
So, given that art can reflect the age in which it was created, what is wrong with a... photograph?
Isn't this sort of thing all part of the history of our country?Do you look at paintings of Tudor gentry, and countless others of this type in galleries all over the country and think "ruddy 'ell - you could have bought a 100 goats for what that would have cost!"
However much of a prat we think he is, as speaker of the house he's part of our history and people 3 to 400 years from now will study this painting, and this period in history (and still conclude he really was a bit of a prat!).
How much money do we mis-spend on maintaining pointless and expensive "traditions"?
Paintings last longer and don't need electricity. It will be around longer than all your holiday snaps. Seems good VFM for a historical record.
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