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In January, the City of London announced that it would take down and re-sited the statue of William Beckford in Guildhall. Beckford, who was a two-time Lord Mayor of London in the late 1700s, accrued wealth from plantations in Jamaica and held African slaves Photo: Stephencdickson The UK culture secretary Oliver Dowden will stoke the debate raging over controversial historic monuments by telling museum and heritage leaders later this month that they “must defend our culture and history from the noisy minority of activists constantly trying to do Britain down”. Accord...

A leading figure in a campaign to topple Britain's statues is a hard-left fanatic who previously expressed scepticism around the Pfizer vaccine, his social media posts have revealed. Toyin Agbetu, 53, joined Sadiq Khan's new diversity commission this week to help investigate whether to remove statues and road names of prominent historical figures connected to the slave trade.  Mr Agbetu was previously known for his 2007 outburst in front of the Queen in 2007, when he shouted 'you should be ashamed' during a service at Westminster Abbey. In November he posted online expressing scepticism abou...

Jacob Rees-Mogg accused Sadiq Khan of overseeing 'loony left-wing wheezes' today after the London mayor unveiled a new body that could remove statues and alter street names in the capital that are deemed offensive The Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm was announced today and will include art historian Aindrea Emelife and chairman of City Sikhs Jasvir Singh among 15 panellists. The homepage of the commission notes that London's statues, plaques and street names 'largely reflect a bygone era' and it seeks to improve diversity in public spaces. It prompted a colourful response from pa...

Landmark report aims to make City more diverse and inclusive What is city talk? A landmark new report on tackling racism will put diversity and inclusivity ‘front and centre’ in the City of London, its authors have said. A series of ‘comprehensive and decisive’ actions recommended by the City of London Corporation’s Tackling Racism Taskforce have been agreed by the Square Mile governing body’s Policy and Resources Committee. They include measures aimed at tackling racism and boosting diversity in the City Corporation’s staff and elected members, its family o...

It later came to light that was the result of pressure from the government. Various cabinet ministers were quick to leap to the defence of monuments to slavers. When Colston’s statue fell, home secretary Priti Patel denounced the action as “utterly disgraceful” while Boris Johnson argued Black Lives Matter had been “subverted by thuggery”. In July it was revealed that culture secretary Oliver Dowden had been in contact with the Museum of the Home to demand Geffrye’s statue stayed up irrespective of the will of the public, bolstering his argument with the barely hidden threat that ...