Tories Left Red-Faced After Artist Threatens To Sue Over ‘Bottler Burnham’ Stunt

Robert Chow’s pop art image of the prime minister, which Labour used during the Makerfield by-election in June, has been used on bottles of water handed out to journalists at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.

Above Chow’s painting of the PM it says “Bottler Burnham”, and below the image it says “0% strength”.

In a post on Instagram, Chow said: “It seems like the Conservatives have been using my artwork without my permission at their conference party.

It is not the first time Chow has threatened a political party with legal action for using the same image without permission.

Reform UK were forced to withdraw a series of anti-immigration attack ads in June.

They showed an AI-generated image of small boat migrants holding “Vote Andy” placards.

Chow said the ad “misrepresents what the image stands for and what I believe in”.

He said: “For me, this is straightforward – my work has been used without permission to share a message that I fundamentally disagree with.

“To see my portrait, created to represent something positive about Manchester and Andy’s vision for the city, being used without my permission to push agendas, including an anti-immigration message, is fundamentally unfair and wrong.”

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