Tories pay artist for Burnham images after legal threat
Stanley Chow had threatened to sue the Conservative Party for using his illustrations of the PM.
The Conservatives have agreed to pay an artist who threatened to sue the party after it used his illustration of Andy Burnham to mock the prime minister.
Stanley Chow posted on Facebook that the party had used the picture - which Burnham has used on social media - without permission.
He had sought legal advice and threatened to take action against the party. It is understood the Tories agreed to pay a £1,000 fee for use of the image - and contributed an unknown sum to Chow's legal fees.
The Conservatives had distributed water bottles with the image on them - accusing Burnham of being a "bottler".
Chow posted on Facebook: "The Conservative Party have settled after their recent indiscretion of using my image without my permission."
A Conservative spokesman said: "The Conservative Party values the importance of intellectual property in the creative industries. We consider this matter closed."
Manchester United fan Chow, a Labour supporter, has previously created images of footballers, including Wayne Rooney, Edgar Davids and Ronaldinho.
He has also exhibited a series of portraits of "Great Northerners", which featured the likes of actress Maxine Peake, suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst and poet Lemn Sissay, and recently curated an art trail for the Brit Awards' arrival in his home city.
He has also drawn Eric Cantona and presented a picture of Sir Alex Ferguson to the former Red Devils manager.
Artist 'taking legal advice' over Tories' use of Andy Burnham portrait
Meet Stanley Chow - the football illustrator. Video, 00:02:35 Meet Stanley Chow - the football illustrator
