Jacob Rees-Mogg has denounced Sadiq Khan’s Commission for Diversity, which could alter street names and remove statues.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has unveiled a new task force, the Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm, which could remove statues and alter street names that are deemed offensive.
Mr Khan established the Commission initially on 9th June 2020, in response to Black Lives Matter protesters tearing down the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol.
The task force includes Toyin Agebetu, who confronted the Queen during a ceremony in 2007 at Westminster Abbey. During the encounter, he demanded an apology from the Queen and the British Government for their role in the historical Slave Trade.
According to the Commission’s homepage, statues, plaques, and street names that “largely reflect a bygone era” are at risk of being erased from the capital, as it seeks to improve diversity in public spaces.
The Leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, speaking in the House, advised the London Mayor not to “interfere in things that aren’t his responsibility”.
Mr Rees-Mogg stated: “It is quite wrong that these loony left-wing wheezes should be inflicted upon our great metropolis, and I think the Mayor in his zeal is potentially treading on the toes of councils anyway – that councils have the right to name streets, by and large, not the Mayor of London, and I don’t think he should interfere in things that aren’t his responsibility”.
Mogg brands Sadiq Khan a "loony" over new statue commission. pic.twitter.com/P8OqLhi8xe
— Turning Point UK 🇬🇧 (@TPointUK) February 11, 2021
The Commons Leader added: “As I was saying on the Honours List, we should celebrate and glory in our wonderful history and in the great heroes of our nation going back over centuries”.
Conservative MP Gareth Bacon stated: “No politician should be allowed to erase large swathes of British history. But that’s exactly what Sadiq Khan’s new unelected statue-toppling Commission has been appointed to do.”
