The employers of the now notorious Margaret Thatcher statue egg-thrower have condemned his actions after he hurled missiles at the Iron Lady’s monument in her home town of Grantham.
The controversial £300,000 statue of Britain’s first female Prime Minister was erected in her birth town of Grantham, Lincolnshire on Sunday, May 15 – but it didn’t take long for proceedings to be disrupted.
Details of the installation were kept coy by South Kesteven District Council in a bid to avoid threats of damage or hostility in the community, given the divisive nature of Baroness Thatcher’s reign in Downing Street.
Within hours of it being installed, the statue was targeted with eggs by a man who has now been identified and revealed as 59-year-old Jeremy Webster, the deputy director of the Attenborough Arts Centre at the University of Leicester.
His appearance was fleeting, as he arrived with a newspaper under his arm and a box of eggs. He threw four eggs at the statue – one of which hit the target – and then left.
The moment was caught on film. | Image: Twitter @DesignsBarnes
Mr Webster’s employers at the University of Leicester said they are taking the incident “extremely seriously”, though it is not clear if it will cost him his job.
His LinkedIn profile also says that he spent just over a decade working in various roles at Lincolnshire County Council, as well as previously being Head of Exhibitions at the National Centre for Craft and Design, otherwise known as the Hub, in Sleaford.
The statue of Margaret Thatcher has been installed on its plinth. | Image: RSM Photography for The Lincolnite
Kerry Law, Chief Marketing and Engagement Officer at the University of Leicester, said: “The University of Leicester has a long-standing history of supporting art, fostering creativity and protecting creative freedom.
“It does not condone any form of defacement and takes any act of defacement extremely seriously. This matter will be addressed in line with the University’s own procedures.”
The statue looms over the High Street. | Photo: Daniel Jaines
The decision to put a statue of Margaret Thatcher in Grantham has been heavily discussed for a number of years, with many suggestions that something like this would inevitably happen.
Last year, a local artist created an ‘alternative’ statue and placed it on the plinth at St. Peter’s Hill. His sculpture depicted the Iron Lady’s had stuck on a spike made from office chairs.
Mark’s own Thatcher statue depicts the Iron Lady with her head cut off and placed on a spike. | Photo: MarkRobla
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A 41-year-old man has been charged with robbery after an incident at a shop in Lincoln.
Dominic Norris, of no fixed address, was arrested in connection with the crime after police were called to Oasis Newsagents on Ripon Street at around 12.20pm on Tuesday, 5 July.
The arrest came after officers were quickly deployed to the area and took swift action to investigate.
He appeared Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday and was remanded to Lincoln Crown Court, with no fixed date for his next appearance.
Conservative Lincoln MP Karl McCartney has broken his silence on the issue of his embattled party leader, encouraging the Prime Minister’s resignation.
As reported, PM Boris Johnson is expected to admit defeat in a national statement later, agreeing to step down as Tory leader following more than 50 ministerial resignations.
He will, however, remain as Prime Minister until the results of a leadership contest in the autumn.
Three Lincolnshire MPs joined those resigning from ministerial positions in protest to Johnson’s actions and judgement on a number of issues – culminating in his handling of sexual assault allegations against former Deputy Chief Whip Chris Pincher.
Karl McCartney, who also sits on the government’s 1922 Committee, had so far refused to comment on the events in his party this week.
Upon the news of the PM’s white flag this morning, McCartney issued a statement.
While he did not join some of his colleagues’ condemnations of the PM’s judgement or errors, he said the loss of confidence from the majority of MPs meant it was time to resign. He continued by praising Johnson for his work on Brexit and the pandemic:
“It has become clear to the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson MP, that he no longer has the confidence of a growing number of his colleagues in the Conservative Parliamentary Party. Therefore, the time has come for the Prime Minister to take the decision to resign and allow the Conservative Party the opportunity to select and elect a new leader.
“I, and many of my constituents, and Parliamentary colleagues, have a lot to be grateful for that the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has achieved and undertaken as the Leader of our Country. His unique brand will be missed by those of us who admired his willingness to deliver Brexit and the way he tackled the pandemic and the war in Eastern Europe.”
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