Sunday Express

MP calls for Reagan to be honoured

- By David Maddox

FRESH calls have been made for a statue of Ronald Reagan to be relocated to Parliament Square.

The statue, which used to stand outside the former US embassy in Grosvenor Square, London, has disappeare­d from public view.

A spokesman for the Grosvenor Estate said it had been “temporaril­y removed by the team renovating the former embassy to protect it”.

He would not say where it has been stored and Qatari Diar, the company redevelopi­ng the site into flats, has not responded to inquiries.

But MPS are now leading calls for the statue to have a new home in Parliament Square alongside other giants of British and internatio­nal history who stood up for freedom and defeated tyranny, such aswinston Churchill.

They argue the statue had lost its significan­ce in Grosvenor Square after the US embassy moved to Nine Elms, south of the river, in 2018.

Andrew Rosindell, Conservati­ve MP for Romford, said: “President Reagan was a true friend to Great Britain who, alongside his political soulmate Margaret Thatcher, helped defeat communism and ended the Cold War. It made sense his statue stood proudly on Grosvenor Square. But now the Americans have moved their embassy it would be fitting to relocate his statue to a prominent position in London where it can be admired by visitors from across the globe.

“I believe Parliament Square would be an appropriat­e location.”

The Express launched a crusade for the statue to be moved to Parliament Square in 2018.

 ??  ?? HONOUR: Reagan
HONOUR: Reagan

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