Kadirgamar's portrait unveiled at Oxford; second Lankan honoured after SWRD
 

from Rodney Martinesz in London

Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar wound up his tour of Britain yesterday with a visit to Oxford where his portrait was unveiled amongst a distinguished pantheon of Oxford Union Presidents.

Kadirgamar is the second Lankan after the late Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike to be honoured with a portrait at this hallowed seat of learning which has produced world leaders and statesmen.

He is the 14th office bearer of the union to be honoured with a bust portrait which will stand alongside world leaders like William Gladstone and Harold Macmillan.

Kadirgamar was later hosted to dinner by the Oxford Union Club amongst who were some of his compatriots in the Lankan Minister's Oxonian days.

Following are the office bearers of the Oxford Union whose busts/portraits are displayed at the union:

William Cladstone, President (1830), Prime Minister, UK - Herbert Asquith, President (1873), Prime Minister, UK - Robert Cecil (Lord Salisbury), President (1885), Prime Minister, UK - Harold Macmillan, Librarian (1914), Prime Minister, UK - S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Treasurer (1923), Prime Minister, Ceylon, - Edward Heath, President (1938), Prime Minister, UK - Benazir Bhutto, President (1977), Prime Minister, Pakistan - George Curzon (Marquess Curzon), President (1880), Viceroy of India; Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; Chancellor of Oxford University - F. E. Smith (Lord Birkenhead), President (1893), Attorney General; Lord Chancellor; Secretary of State for India - Hilaire Belloc - President (1894), Poet - John Simon (Viscount Simon), President (1895), Attorney General; Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs - Roy Jenkins (Lord Jenkins), Librarian (1939), Chancellor of the Exchequer; Chancellor of Oxford University - Michael Heseltine (Lord Heseltine), President (1954), Deputy Prime Minister - Lakshman Kadirgamar, President (1959), Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka.