Kemi Badenoch has called for the construction of a statue of Margaret Thatcher outside parliament, despite there already being one inside the Palace of Westminster.
The Tory leader acknowledged fears that the proposed statue could be defaced due to her controversial decisions while in government but urged Brits to treat sculptures with “a bit more respect” in a last attempt to win over Reform UK voters ahead of the local elections.
Talking to BBC Radio 5, she said: “There’s one that’s near the chamber of the House of Commons that’s inside, but most people would never see that. I think she’s such an iconic figure. It’s odd that she isn’t there.
“And I remember having this conversation about 15 years ago, long before I became an MP, and the person said, ‘oh, they’d be really worried about the statue being defaced’.
“And then what did we see last weekend or two weekends ago? People are defacing every statue of Millicent Fawcett. For goodness sake, I think we need to treat the statues with a bit more respect.”
Statues in Parliament Square are around 12 feet tall.
In the same interview, Badenoch said she would “absolutely” support Donald Trump-style mass deportations of thousands of illegal immigrants, adding: “It’s not going to be easy, but you’ve got to start from somewhere”.
“We need to make sure that we remove foreign criminals from our country. And we actually put down an amendment that says that we will deport. It’s not going to be easy, but you’ve got to start from somewhere. If you start from the position of, ‘oh well, it can’t be done, then you’re never going to do it’,” she said.
“We have a problem now with immigration being too high. I have acknowledged that that happened under the Conservatives’ watch. I was not in charge. I am now. And that is something that we are going to fix.”
Asked if she would commit to mass deportations of illegal immigrants, Badenoch said: “Of foreign criminals? Absolutely. If people are in the country illegally, then they should be deported. That is the law. Otherwise you’re rewarding people for breaking the law.”
Related: