Officials say it will be the 'most secure passport ever issued in the UK' and contains innovative¹ features to make it more difficult for fraudsters to forge copies.

 

But the Passport Office was hit by accusations² of sexism as the passport features SEVEN men and only TWO women.

 

The seven men featured are:

 

- John Constable³, the painter of the Hay Wain

 

- John Harrison, the inventor of the marine⁴ timekeeper

 

- Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the architect

 

- Charles Babbage, the inventor of the computer

 

- William Shakespeare, the playwright⁵, who appears in a new high-security watermark

 

- Antony Gormley and Anish Kapoor, the sculptors⁶

 

The two women featured are:

 

- Elisabeth Scott, the architect

 

- Ada Lovelace, the early computer programmer

 

Mark Thomson, director general of the Passport Office, defended the design.

 

He said: "It wasn't something where we said let's set out to only have two women.

 

"In trying to celebrate the UK's creativity we tried to get a range of locations and things around the country to celebrate our triumphs over the years, so there we are."

 

Asked about the omission⁷ of female icons⁹ such as Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters, he said: "Whenever we do these things there is always someone who wants their favourite rock band or icon⁸ in the book.

 

"We've got 16 pages, a very finite space. We like to feel we've got a good representative view celebrating some real icons of the UK- Shakespeare, Constable and of course Elisabeth Scott herself."

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