In 2001 Tony Blair loaned George W Bush a bronze bust of Winston Churchill to put in the Oval Office. “The British government’s huge hidden collection is held inside an anonymous underground storehouse in Soho and contains around 12,000 works of art (five times more than the National Gallery owns). The curators are given £200,000 a year to buy new pieces and the art is available for government ministers to request for display in their private offices. It is also sent out all over the globe to foreign embassies and consulates. Intended as a showcase for British cultural life, the work has always stayed inside property owned by Britain. Until, that is, March 2001, when Blair’s officials requested the President of the US should be loaned a bust of the British war-time premier.”