More than 65 artworks are missing from the Houses of Parliament, including a photographic portrait of Benjamin Disraeli and a 19th-century print of anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce, it has emerged. The items, which also include images of former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett and Labour minister Barbara Castle, have gone unaccounted for since 2024, with parliamentary authorities suggesting they may have been mislaid during works on the estate. None of the works have been formally written off, and officials insist the collection is regularly audited, with five pieces recovered so far this year.

The list, obtained via a Freedom of Information request, also includes a 1995 cartoon by satirist Martin Rowson depicting John Major during the Tory leadership contest. Rowson said such losses were not unusual, noting a cartoon he once sent to a minister "never got beyond reception", and argued the originals matter less than their published newspaper versions. The current tally marks a significant fall from 2018, when 220 works were reported missing, among them a portrait of William Pitt the Younger and a painting depicting Parliament after it was bombed in 1941.