London Mayor Sadiq Khan spent £30,000 on boarding up statues in Westminster

London Mayor Sadiq Khan spent £30,000 on boarding up statues in Westminster – including £10,000 to protect Winston Churchill monument which was vandalised during BLM protests

  • Figures released show it cost £10,147 to put a hoarding around Churchill’s statue
  • £21,115 was spent on protecting statues of Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi
  • It cost was £3,050 to remove graffiti in Parliament Square and Trafalgar Squares

London mayor Sadiq Khan spent more than £30,000 on boarding up statues in Westminster including one of Winston Churchill, it can be revealed.

The monument to the wartime leader was boxed up by Mr Khan after it was daubed with graffiti during Black Lives Matter demonstrations last month.

Underneath Churchill’s name, protesters had daubed ‘is a racist’.

The monument to the wartime leader was boxed up (pictured) by Mr Khan after it was daubed with graffiti during Black Lives Matter demonstrations last month

The Greater London Authority, run by the mayor, put hoardings around three statues in Parliament Square ahead of further protests

The Greater London Authority, run by the mayor, put hoardings around three statues in Parliament Square ahead of further protests

The Greater London Authority, run by the mayor, put hoardings around three statues in Parliament Square ahead of further protests.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show it cost £10,147 to put a hoarding around the statue of Churchill. 

A further £21,115 was spent on protecting statues of Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi. 

The GLA said it cost £3,050 to remove graffiti in Parliament and Trafalgar squares.

Churchill’s statue was boxed up on June 12 but the boarding was removed six days later ahead of a visit by French president Emmanuel Macron. 

Boris Johnson said it was ‘absurd and shameful’ that the monument was at risk of attack, saying Churchill remained a hero for saving the country from ‘fascist and racist tyranny’.  

Mr Khan last month defended his actions after Home Secretary Priti Patel accused him of failing to stand up to ‘thuggery’ and demanded the statue be set free.

He said the decision to protect the statue in Parliament Square – and the monuments to Mandela and Gandhi – was a ‘wise’ precaution.

He said there were fears the London monuments could become a ‘flashpoint for violence’ involving far-Right protesters, after the toppling of a statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol.

Mr Khan has previously pointed out that the statues had been boarded up before, including while Mr Johnson was mayor.