Stuckists lobby PM to oust Tate’s Serota

Enemies of Sir Nicholas Serota (pictured) are petitioning Gordon Brown to end the arts supremo's 20 year reign as Director of the Tate Gallery. Sir Nicholas, 62, was first appointed to the job back in 1988 on a seven-year contract, which was renewed in 1995 and in 2002. Now the Tate trustees must decide by August 31 whether or not to extend his tenure beyond 2009. His critics, and there are many, are attempting to use the Museums and Galleries Act 1992, which states that the appointment requires "the approval of the Prime Minister", to depose him.

The Stuckists, a group who decry the worst of British contemporary art, are now actively lobbying Brown to drop Sir Nicholas. Says co-founder Charles Thomson: "This is the first time in 20 years that the public have been given the chance to say what they think of Serota’s policies of acquiring decaying sharks and tins of shit."

Twenty years is a long time to have any job, but Serota might take heart from Zimbabwean tyrant Robert Mugabe, in power for almost three decades – and still clinging on.