How cavalier: Pranksters target Cromwell bust
PRANKSTERS have been tampering with a bust of Oliver Cromwell in Parliament by repeatedly turning it to face the wall.
The sabotage has forced Westminster authorities to step in to protect the statuette.
It was first discovered by Labour whips last month and the bust was returned to its rightful place, only for it to be moved back again the following day.
Now the Commons curator’s office has estab- lished an exclusion zone around the antique outside the MPs’ tea room. The bust, thought to be the only statue of Cromwell inside the parliamentary estate, is now cordoned off with a sign saying: ‘Fragile — please do not touch’, The Times reported.
Staff have also appealed for help in catching the prankster. There were suggestions unknown Irish nationalists, who revile his campaign of ethnic cleansing against Catholics, could have been interfering with the bust.
When it was first spotted, the Labour whips’ office posted the evidence on Twitter, speculating that it was the result of ‘some underground, long-running war of attrition’.
Roundhead Cromwell ruled as Lord Protector following the English Civil War against the royalist Cavaliers from 1653 until his death in 1658.