THE DUP has called on the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) to restore a portrait of Queen Elizabeth it has removed from its Belfast headquarters.
It is understood that the portrait was removed from Stormont House following an equality case.
Earlier this month, Lord Maginnis, the former Ulster Unionist MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, said a senior civil servant was handed £10,000 in compensation because he was offended at having to walk past the painting.
The DUP and Ulster Unionists have strongly criticised the removal of the portrait.
NIO minister Lord Ian Duncan previously said that no images linked to either of the north's two main communities were displayed at the office's headquarters.
However, new secretary of state Julian Smith appeared to contradict that statement by saying there is a photo of the queen in his private office.
In his first tweet as Secretary of State, Mr Smith wrote: "Proud to have a picture of her majesty the queen on the mantlepiece of my private office at Stormont."
"I was delighted to see it there when I arrived last Friday."
On Wednesday, he said there were "many pictures and portraits of her majesty, the Duke of Edinburgh and other members of the royal family on public display at Hillsborough Castle".
DUP MP Gavin Robinson yesterday said the portrait should be reinstated.
“Whilst the Secretary of State Julian Smith has a small photograph of her majesty the queen in his office, this does not address the wider issue," he said.
"He needs to act."
He said the DUP had raised the issue with prime minister Boris Johnson and Mr Smith.
"The portrait should be reinstated forthwith," he said.
"The Northern Ireland Office should reflect the reality that it is a branch of the United Kingdom government. There is no shame in that."
Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie insisted a portrait of the queen in a Northern Ireland government office is "a symbol of sovereignty and not identity".
"As Stormont House is the official residence of the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, and HQ of the Northern Ireland Office locally, it is only fitting that portraits of her majesty should be on display there to both reflect and respect the constitutional reality of the sovereignty of the United Kingdom in Northern Ireland," he said.
"Quite simply, anyone who has a problem with that is not respecting the Belfast Agreement, the constitutional settlement and British sovereignty."
He hit out at the "meek and weak leadership within the NIO" and claimed it has "seemed to operate as a northern branch of the Republic of Ireland’s Department for Foreign Affairs instead of a British Government department".
"That culture needs to change," he said.
"Hopefully a new prime minister and secretary of state will implement long overdue changes."
