A CONTROVERSIAL oil painting - which cost Worcestershire County Council £4,000 - has been withdrawn from sale, after your Worcester News revealed it would fetch just a few hundred pounds.

The authority has decided to give the unwanted picture - a copy of a portrait of former Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin - to the museum in Bewdley, the town where Baldwin was born in 1867.

The painting, which sparked controversy in 2004 when the council's then Conservative chairman Councillor Edward Sheldon spent £4,000 of his personal allowance having it commissioned, hit the headlines again last week when it was officially valued at just £300-£400. It had been included on a list of historic artefacts to be sold at public auctions following the refurbishment of County Hall.

But council leader Councillor George Lord said: "We're trying to give as many of the paintings to the families of the subjects as we can. But the painting of Stanley Baldwin is now going to Bewdley Museum."

Labour group leader Councillor John Buckley said he wanted to ensure the financial loss the council has suffered on the Baldwin painting is never repeated, by changing the rules governing how a council chairman may spend his personal budget.

"Coun Sheldon got the £4,000 from money left over from his expenses allowance," Coun Buckley said. "He wasted it. We can't have whoever the chairman is just turning round and saying he's spent it on some pet project - that's proved to be a disaster. If there's any money left over, we should have a small committee that decides."

Coun Buckley suggested the Baldwin painting might be best hung "in a toilet somewhere in County Hall, so we can all look up at it and be reminded what a waste of money it was."

But Coun Lord defended the commissioning of the picture.

"It was all done for legitimate reasons," Coun Lord said. "Baldwin was Prime Minister for three terms, and the only one to have come from Worcestershire. I think far too much fuss has been made about this."

The council's other unwanted artefacts will still be sold at public auctions and are expected to bring in about £20,000. They include: The council chairman's chair (£500).

An old inkwell set made from timber salvaged from the HMS Britannia (£120-£180).

A circular mahogany dining table, dating back to Victorian times (£700-£1,000).

A silver breakfast set and candlesticks (£100-£150).

An 18th century mahogany bookcase (£7,000-£10,000).

A large collection of leatherbound books (£250-£350).