‘Protect statues from woke worthies’
Minister supports law to safeguard monuments
BRITAIN SHOULD not attempt to censor its past at the “behest of a baying mob”, the Communities Secretary has warned, as debate steps up over protections for statues and monuments.
Proposals are to be revealed in Parliament today for newly amended legislation following the toppling of a statue of slave trader Edward Colston last year and wider concerns over the removal of controversial monuments.
Robert Jenrick said any decision to remove heritage assets in England will require planning permission and a consultation with local communities, adding he wanted to see a “considered approach”.
“Our view will be set out in law, that such monuments are almost always best explained and contextualised, not taken and hidden away,” he said.
The death of George Floyd while in the custody of police in Minneapolis sparked protests across the world last summer, with the Colston statue dumped into Bristol Harbour and a memorial to Sir Winston Churchill vandalised with the word “racist”.
Speaking at the time, Prime Minister Boris Johnson decried the move, stating: “It is absurd and shameful that this national monument should be at risk of attack by violent protesters.”
The movement spread nationwide, with statues and monuments in Yorkshire among those targeted by protesters highlighting links with the slave trade.
Whitby residents set up a 24hour watch over the town’s Captain Cook statue, while a statue of Queen Victoria in Leeds was vandalised with graffiti and a petition launched to remove Sir Robert Peel from Woodhouse Moor.
Since July, a statue of slave trader Sir Thomas Picton which has stood since 1916 has been boarded up at Cardiff’s civic building following a vote to have it removed.
Mr Jenrick said he had noticed an attempt to set a narrative which seeks to erase part of the nation’s history, adding this was “at the hand of the flash mob, or by the decree of a ‘cultural committee’ of town hall militants and woke worthies”.
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph,
he said: “We live in a country that believes in the rule of law, but when it comes to protecting our heritage, due process has been overridden. That can’t be right.”
“Local people should have the chance to be consulted whether a monument should stand or not,” he added.
“What has stood for generations should be considered thoughtfully, not removed on a whim or at the behest of a baying mob.”