A PORTRAIT depicting the shamed former leader of Essex County Council has been quietly taken down and placed in storage while the police probe into his expenses continues.
The oil painting of Lord Hanningfield, who led the authority between 2001 and 2010, has been removed from display at County Hall and deposited at the Essex Record Office in Chelmsford.
The peer was jailed for nine months last year, after a court found him guilty of fiddling his House of Lords expenses to the tune of nearly £14,000. However he was released after just nine weeks.
The council was this week unable to say when Lord Hanningfield's portrait was moved, although the Gazette understands it was spirited away from the authority's HQ around three months ago.
The painting depicts the Tory politician, formerly Paul White, during his time as county council chairman from 1989 to 1992.
It was painted by the British artist June Mendoza, whose other subjects include the Queen, former prime ministers John Major and Margaret Thatcher, the singer and artist Rolf Harris and the broadcaster Terry Wogan.
The Gazette visited the Essex Record Office on Friday to see if the painting had been put on public display but it was nowhere to be seen.
The expenses which Lord Hanningfield claimed while he was leader of the council are currently being investigated by City of London Police.
The 72-year-old former pig farmer, who was made Baron Hanningfield in 1998, remains on bail while enquiries continue.
Liberal Democrat county councillor David Kendall, who represents Brentwood South, said this week: "I am not surprised that this has happened because the Tory administration seems to want to banish any visible connections with Lord Hanningfield.
"It seems to have been done a little bit in the dead of the night and a lot of people wouldn't have realised it went.
"I think they were trying to be subtle about it but I think that has now backfired.
"At the end of the day, he is a past chairman and I am not aware of anyone else's painting being removed."
Brentwood Tory borough councillor Russell Quirk said the decision to take down the portrait smacked of "petty picture posturing behind the scenes at County Hall in an attempt to erase people from civic history".
"Don't these people have better things to do with their time, for instance, finding the many pictures within their custody that seem to be amiss?" he said.
"To try to pretend that Lord Hanningfield made no positive contribution to Essex in his many years in public service by hiding his portrait is petty and unnecessary."
A council spokesman simply said: "The portrait has been removed while a police investigation is taking place.
"The decision was taken by the chairman of the council."
The Gazette could not reach council chairman Kay Twitchen for comment as she is away on leave.
Lord Hanningfield, who represented Stock while county council leader, had not answered our calls or returned our messages as we went to press yesterday.
