Rachel Reeves has been accused of trying to “distract” from winter fuel payment cuts after announcing plans to replace No 11 paintings with art of or by women.

The Chancellor revealed the move to replace every painting in the state room at 11 Downing Street at a reception for female business leaders this evening.

She said she wanted to mark the lives of the “amazing women who have gone before us”.

Ms Reeves, the first female chancellor, said: “This is King James behind me, but next week the artwork in this room is going to change.

“Every picture in this room is either going to be of a woman or by a woman – and we’re also going to have a statue in this room of Millicent Fawcett, who did so much for the rights of women.”

But a Conservative Party spokesman said: “Pathetic gesture politics from a Chancellor out of her depth trying to distract from snatching winter fuel payments from 10million pensioners.

“I’m sure the 5.2million elderly women who are facing a choice between heating and eating this Christmas will be very impressed.”

Most paintings around the large room currently feature men, including King James II.

The Chancellor is also said to be planning to take the same approach to choosing artwork to hang in her study in No 11.

It comes after Sir Keir Starmer sparked a row after it emerged he removed a portrait of Margaret Thatcher from his private study in No 10.

The Prime Minister claimed the reason for the move was because he did not like the idea of people staring down at him while he worked and that he preferred landscapes.

He told the BBC‘s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “This is not actually about Margaret Thatcher at all.

“I don’t like images and pictures of people staring down at me. I’ve found it all my life.

“When I was a lawyer I used to have pictures of judges. I don’t like it. I like landscapes.”