The Conservative Party has paid artist Stanley Chow a £1,000 copyright fee and a contribution to legal costs after using his portrait of Prime Minister Andy Burnham on water bottles at its conference last month.
The image, created in Mr Chow's iconic style, was originally licensed to the Labour Party. It appeared on bottles bearing the headlines 'Bottler Burnham' and '0% strength' at the Conservative Party conference.
Artist's frustration over unauthorised use
Mr Chow told the Manchester Evening News that he was going to take legal advice before deciding on his next steps. He said: “After seeing my portrait used by Reform to push messages I fundamentally disagree with, finding it on Conservative conference giveaways was frustrating. This is work I’ve put time and care into, and it’s how I make my living. Artists should have a say in where their work appears and what it’s used to promote.
“I hope this makes political parties – and others – think twice before treating artists’ work as theirs for the taking. You might expect the Conservative Party would want to support Britain’s creative industries – asking an artist’s permission before using their work would be a good place to start.”
Party response
A Conservative spokesman said: “The Conservative Party values the importance of intellectual property in the creative industries. We consider this matter closed.”
A party source said the water bottles had sought to highlight what they described as the Prime Minister ducking big decisions like cutting welfare to fund defence, and that sadly for families across the country, these depictions of Andy Burnham remain very real.
Mr Chow previously told the M.E.N. that he was 'calling the Tory party out' and was 'making people aware that what they've done is wrong'. He said: "It's really annoying. It's more annoying because it's the Tory Party. They are an institution and they should know better really.
"They have not taken my IP rights into consideration, and have just done that. The Labour Party could have owned that image, they could have infringed the Labour Party's copyright.
"But the fact is I licensed it to the Labour Party and it was okay for them to use. The Manchester Evening News licensed it off me before when I did a cover, and a few other magazines have licenced it off me as well, they have legitimately used my image, they have paid me."
The payment, agreed by the party, was reported by The Press Association.
