Taxpayers group criticises £250,000 spending on MPs' portraits

Twenty-one parliamentarians were painted or sculpted in decade, including John Bercow, Ken Clarke and Diane Abbott

Iain Duncan Smith with his portrait by Paul Benney, at Portcullis House. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian

MPs have spent almost £250,000 on paintings and sculptures of their colleagues, including thousands on portraits of the Tory cabinet ministers Iain Duncan Smith, William Hague and Ken Clarke.

The spending was revealed under a freedom of information request by the Evening Standard, which showed that almost £22,000 was spent on commissioning a portrait of John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, unveiled in 2011.

Critics said the large outlay on paintings of politicians was an expensive vanity project, but Commons officials said portraits were commissioned to record those who had made a significant contribution to UK political life.

The document revealed that 21 parliamentarians were painted or sculpted between 2000 and 2010, costing an average of £7,000 to £9,000 each. Fewer have been ordered in recent years because of budget cuts.

Around £11,750 was spent on a full-sized statue of Margaret Thatcher. Her successor as prime minister, John Major, was honoured with a bronze bust costing £6,000.

Several former Tory opposition leaders were made the subject of artworks, including Hague, now foreign secretary, for £4,000; Iain Duncan Smith, now responsible for benefit reforms as work and pensions secretary, for £10,000; and Lord Howard, for £9,400. The former chancellor Ken Clarke's portrait cost £8,000.

From Labour, portraits of Diane Abbott, the Hackney North MP, and Margaret Beckett, the former foreign secretary, cost the public purse £11,750 each, and pictures of the leftwingers Dennis Skinner and Tony Benn cost £2,000 each.

A number of ex-Lib Dem leaders were also painted, including Sir Menzies Campbell at a cost of just over £10,000 and Lord Ashdown for £2,000.

Tony Blair was painted alongside the then opposition leaders Hague and Charles Kennedy in a triptych costing £6,000.

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "While the public might expect former prime ministers or speakers to be afforded the honour of a painting or bust in parliament, it would certainly seem that the net is being cast increasingly wide when it comes to identifying subjects.

"When photographs are so much cheaper than paintings, politicians need to think twice about spending our money immortalising themselves or their friends on canvas, or even in bronze."

A Commons spokesman said: "The parliamentary art collection at theHouse of Commons records those who have made a significant contribution to UK political life over the centuries and in each parliament the Speaker's advisory committee on works of art endeavours to update this record by adding to the contemporary portrait collection.

"In recent years the annual budget for acquiring works of art for the collection has been reduced to reflect the need for savings in the current economic downturn. This is part of the House's drive to reduce its overall cost by 17% by 2014/15."