A CRACKDOWN on woke zealots trying to tear down statues will be unveiled in a common-sense charter.
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer today announced measures to stop radicals trying to “erase our history”.
AlamyWinston Churchill’s statue has been targeted by protesters before[/caption]
Monuments of historical figures with chequered pasts have been targeted by protesters in recent years.
New rules will make clear that bosses should keep statues as they are “as a default” position – but can “complement” them with a historical explainer “based on fact, not feelings”.
Ms Frazer hopes the “retain and explain” guidance – to be published in the next fortnight – will protect those in charge from being forced into “knee-jerk removals”.
She hit out at critics who “cast Churchill as villain, not as the man who kept Britain free”.
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Speaking at the Tory conference in Manchester, she said: “Unlike some of those in the Labour Party, I am not ashamed of our great country’s culture, its people or its past. I do not want to bring down our statues or our monuments.
“I believe in the British people. What some call culture wars, I say, is standing up for our principles. Pride, tolerance, understanding, learning, respect, fairness and common sense.
“For not erasing our history. And why I will be shortly publishing new guidance on retain and explain for statues – so that rather than tearing down our history we can understand it.”
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