May 17, 2022 4.53 pm This story is over 22 months old

Egg-selling stall by Margaret Thatcher statue in Grantham is just a stunt

A spoof that has grabbed people’s attention
Oli Dugmore, the head of news and politics at Joe.co.uk, has set up an egg-throwing stall next to the Margaret Thatcher statue. | Photo: @sports_badger on Twitter
By Local Democracy Reporter

A man has been seen selling eggs next to the recently-erected Margaret Thatcher statue in Grantham, just two days after the monument was pelted by a passer-by at the unveiling over the weekend.

The £300,000 statue of Thatcher has been the talk of the town since it was erected in Grantham, the birthplace of Britain’s first female Prime Minister.

It was placed on its plinth at St. Peter’s Hill on Sunday, May 15, and just hours afterwards it was hit with an egg thrown by a man now identified as 59-year-old Jeremy Webster.

In light of this, a stall has been set up by a national journalist in a spoof stunt, selling eggs for £10 next to the statue.

Oli Dugmore, the head of news and politics at JOE.co.uk, set up his stall on Thursday afternoon, inviting the people of Grantham to “come say hi” by the controversial Margaret Thatcher statue.

It didn’t take long for the authorities to get involved, as a community support officer quickly came to speak to Oli about the stunt, as he amusingly described in a Twitter thread.

The stunt has been received some famous attention online, with Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker saying: “She always said she was a supporter of small businesses.”

The topic of egg throwing and this statue has been well documented for a significant period of time now, as many have argued the controversy and divisiveness surrounding the Iron Lady put the legitimacy of having a statue of her into question.

In 2020, over 14,000 people declared their interest in an egg-throwing contest at the site of the monument once it was unveiled.