The camera adds ten pounds, but the canvas? Slimline Boris Johnson portrait receives mixed reviews

The former UK prime minister Boris Johnson is never far from the limelight. Last month, the wily politician, who resigned in July after several scandals, unveiled his own portrait at the Carlton Club in St James’s, London.

The painting of Bo-Jo, by Richard Stone, wowed most of the attending audience. But not everyone is impressed with the Boris likeness. “Tilting at ‘statesmanlike’, it appears to have caught the former premier in a moment of serious concern about how long he might have to stand still,” writes Chris Harvey in the Telegraph, who adds that the portrait is “all sorts of nothing”.

The Daily Mirror noted that the painting presented a rather slimline version of the headline-hitting politician. “After being hospitalised with Covid, Boris Johnson pledged to ditch ‘late night cheese’ in a bid to lose weight,” said the report. “Now it appears a portrait artist has also been tasked with helping him slim down.” Ouch.