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Tory MP campaigning for every home to be entitled to free portrait of the Queen

Joy Morrissey wants every home to be entitled to a free portrait of the Queen. (Parliament UK – Attribution 3.0 Unported CC BY 3.0/Getty Images)
Joy Morrissey wants every home to be entitled to a free portrait of the Queen. (UK Parliament/Getty Images)

A Tory MP has launched a campaign for every household to be entitled to a free portrait of the Queen.

Joy Morrissey, the MP for Beaconsfield, is campaigning with the British Monarchists Society and said she will be lobbying Boris Johnson to give it “careful consideration”.

Yahoo News UK has asked Downing Street if the prime minister is backing the campaign. No response has been received.

In a statement, Morrissey said: “I am proud to be launching a national campaign with the British Monarchists Society to put a portrait of Her Majesty in every home, company, and institution that would like one.

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“It is time to rediscover our pride in being British!”

In her tweet announcing the campaign, Morrissey said it is “wonderful, patriotic and unifying… for our country”.

“I will be writing to the prime minister to ask him to give it careful consideration and looking for opportunities to discuss further in Parliament.”

Yahoo News UK has also approached the British Monarchists Society – a group which aims to “support tradition, promote heritage, defend the Crown and advance education” – for comment.

As of 1pm on Thursday, Morrissey’s campaign announcement on Twitter had received more than 5,000 responses, many of which mocked the idea.

Dragon’s Den investor Deborah Meaden labelled it “divisive” and “jingoistic”, and said “our Queen deserves better”.

Morrissey had hinted at the campaign on Tuesday, as she posted a picture of herself with a portrait of the Queen with a caption of: “Received my new office portrait of the Queen today. In Australia citizens can write to their MP for a free portrait of the Queen – why can’t we do the same in the UK??

“I feel a campaign coming on…”

Her campaign reflects a growing focus on patriotism that has been seen in the wider Conservative Party and government under Boris Johnson.

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In August last year, for example, the PM said of rows surrounding the words of songs such as Rule, Britannia!: "I think it's time we stopped our cringing embarrassment about our history.”

In March, culture secretary Oliver Dowden also ordered the Union flag to be flown above government buildings every day.

This week, the government also gave its support to a campaign by former police officer Kash Singh to instil national pride in young people through One Britain One Nation Day, which is due to be celebrated in schools on Friday and includes the singing of a patriotic song.

Watch: Thursday's daily politics briefing