It took mere hours for Grantham’s new Margaret Thatcher statue’s first public egging
The £300,000 statue of the Milk Snatcher Margaret Thatcher by sculptor Douglas Jennings, which was denied a place in Parliament Square, was installed without ceremony in her birthplace of Grantham on Sunday.
Work is under way in Grantham this morning to install a memorial to commemorate Grantham’s most famous daughter, Margaret Thatcher.
The 10.5ft memorial is being placed on a granite plinth in the heart of the town. pic.twitter.com/QjRZTOpfPt— South Kesteven District Council (@southkesteven) May 15, 2022
The bronze monument was mounted on a ten-foot high plinth to avoid incidences like those that have happened to previous statues of the divisive former prime minister.
in the 80s someone broke into the wax museum in dublin and sliced off thatcher’s face and left a sword from one of the other exhibits in her . we need more crime like this ! crime can be good ! pic.twitter.com/mXRcPiNwVC
— aisling ! ¡ (@aislingonline) May 2, 2020
While the statue still has a face, it didn’t remain unscathed for long.
Margaret Thatcher statue egged within hours of it being installed https://t.co/KlrCdEvBUL
— The Guardian (@guardian) May 15, 2022
Here’s how that looked.
🎥 Watch: A Margaret Thatcher statue was egged by protesters just hours after being lowered in Grantham.
➡️ The statue of the former Prime Minister was placed on a 10ft-high plinth in the wake of warnings from policehttps://t.co/ZJFljgxTJ3 pic.twitter.com/18k8401TRD
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) May 15, 2022
In some ways, the incident was like a historical re-enactment.
Margaret Thatcher was egged at the Welsh Tory Party Conference at Porthcawl in 1984 🥚 https://t.co/QAnjtvW6qu https://t.co/Hm5mNmDVEl pic.twitter.com/Mnycfhhx0Q
— Louvain Rees ⚰️ (@hellohistoria) May 15, 2022
The egg thrower – almost certainly the first of very many – was sent a message of support by one Scot.
Apparently the new Thatcher statue got egged. If anyone knows this man, can you let him know he never has to pay for a pint in Scotland. #thatcherstatue pic.twitter.com/bNxqlowQRX
— Indy4Scotland (@opoweroscotland) May 15, 2022
The man in question, according to the Mail, is Jeremy Webster – a deputy arts centre director who is proud to have started the ball rolling and got his wife to capture the moment on film.
He had tweeted this, prior to the egging.
Not all heroes wear capes, do they? pic.twitter.com/X1UnTE9OuJ
— Council Estate Media (@CE_Media_) May 15, 2022
Some people were outraged, and not just by the waste of food.
I'm sure @LincsPolice will already be aware that criminal damage to memorials has been made a specific crime under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and will wish to investigate accordingly.https://t.co/FJRIu3ZF67
— Lewis Feilder (@LewisFeilder) May 15, 2022
The yob who is boasting that his was the first egg to hit the statue is the the deputy director of the Attenborough Arts Centre at Leicester Uni. He’s 59-years-old. Is it hardly surprising that our universities are so woke and intolerant of other views? https://t.co/G3XO8ABacl
— Andrew Allison #StandWithUkraine 🇬🇧🇺🇦 (@andrew_allison) May 15, 2022
Has the criminal been arrested?
— British Alba (@BritishAlba) May 15, 2022
But Twitter was largely in favour of Jeremy Webster’s wordless statement on Thatcher’s legacy.
1.
Egging Thatcher’s effigy will not affect your statue Tory rights pic.twitter.com/yiHIOHCLit
— Sanjeev Kohli (@govindajeggy) May 15, 2022
2.
I wouldn't worry too much about people throwing eggs at that Margaret Thatcher statue. All the piss will rinse that right off.
— Nick Pettigrew🇺🇦 (@Nick_Pettigrew) May 15, 2022
3.
Don't do that, it's not Edwina Currie, throw rancid milk instead. https://t.co/cjQ54ugeGj
— HappyToast ★ (@IamHappyToast) May 15, 2022
4.
It took them TWO WHOLE HOURS?!?
Slackers!! https://t.co/uxDpLNQIZU
— Charlie Stross (@cstross) May 15, 2022
5.
Can't believe she's taking dairy produce away from people even while in statue form. https://t.co/MJkDXxVy9Y
— Tiernan Douieb (@TiernanDouieb) May 15, 2022
6.
There’s no acceptable reason to pass a statue of Thatcher without egging it
— Fancy Brenda 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ (they/them) (@SpillerOfTea) May 15, 2022
7.
Wait – they've put up a Margaret Thatcher statue?! Who wanted that?!
— Lotty Earns (@lottyburns) May 15, 2022
8.
A £300,000 statue of Margaret Thatcher has been unveiled in Lincolnshire today in a bid to boost UK egg sales. pic.twitter.com/B1Enpwfxwi
— Dr Harold News (@DrHaroldNews) May 15, 2022
9.
So if you arm genocidal dictators, sell off council housing, create mass unemployment, poverty, community breakdown, increase gap between rich and poor, privatise energy, transport etc actively support apartheid, destroy industry and knight Jimmy Savile = A Statue …OK https://t.co/VcI8dlU2ZR
— terry christian (@terrychristian) May 15, 2022
Here’s a piece of Margaret Thatcher trivia for you, courtesy of the excellent Laura Kuenssberg Translator.
Did you know the new statue in Grantham is the 2,201st monument to Margaret Thatcher in the UK? The previous 2,200 monuments are colloquially known as "food banks" x
— Laura Kuenssberg Translator (@BBCLauraKT) May 15, 2022
This response from @Bufftontuffton3 probably deserves a monument of its own.
— Hilly (@HillyFoz) May 15, 2022
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Source Guardian Image Screengrab,