The statue of Mrs. Thatcher

I agreed to appear on Newsnight to discuss the statue of Mrs. Thatcher which was planned for Parliament Square, turned down by Westminster City Council, and is now going to Grantham. It seemed to have been entirely forgotten that there was another big statue of her which was commissioned by Tony Banks, when he was chair of the House of Commons Works of Art Committee. The plan was that it should go into the Members’ Lobby next to Winston Churchill, but the rules prohibited it. So, it was lent to the Guildhall Museum. A theatre producer took a cricket bat into the museum in his trousers – not an easy thing to do – and smashed her head off. So, it is not just recently that statues of her have aroused strong feelings.

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3 thoughts on “The statue of Mrs. Thatcher”

  1. Jean Walker says:

    Having had grandfather who was a Yorkshire coal miner and a cousin who was a mounted policeman forced to stop his demonstrating grandfather I have empathy with the bearer of the cricket bat.

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  2. Emma Lavender says:

    Dear Mr Saumarez Smith, thank you for the continued interest you bring with this blog: your active life and thoughts are all the more appreciated during these difficult times.
    I would like to remind you of the existence of another bronze sculpture of Margaret Thatcher. This was made by Antony Dufort and was installed in Members’ Lobby of the House of Commons, facing Winston Churchill. It was commissioned by The Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art and unveiled on the 21st February 2007 by Baroness Thatcher herself, who famously quipped in her unveiling speech that “I might have preferred iron, but bronze will do”. She also referenced the decapitated marble Thatcher carved by Neil Simmons, saying that “at least its head won’t come off this time”.
    Antony Dufort, just before the unveiling in Members’ Lobby, overheard Dennis Skinner MP ‘The Beast of Bolsover’ threatening to throw rotten tomatoes at it, which he never did.

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