London is practically littered with statues of politicians - they do seem to be able to find taxpayers’ funds to honour themselves don’t they? Here are some of the works of more artistic merit - or recalling more interesting personalities.
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Politicians 1 2
Jawaharlal Nehru
Perhaps more famous now as the grandfather of Indira Gandhi, Nehru was the man who helped build modern India. Its first (and longest-serving) prime minister, he was educated at Harrow and Cambridge and died of a stroke in 1964.
Montreal Place
Tube: Temple
Mahatma Gandhi
The father of Indian Independence sits in meditation in this 1968 work with a space under it for flowers and incense. It is by Fredda Brilliant, an émigré Pole born into a diamond family in Lodz, and an eccentric figure noted for bursting into song in public.
Tavistock Square WC2
Tube: Russell Square
Charles De Gaulle
This monument to General De Gaulle was set up outside the wartime headquarters of the Free French movement in 1993. The first president of liberated France, he was the driver behind the European Union. Funding for the statue by Angela Conner was led by Winston Churchill’s daughter, Lady Soames.
Carlton Gardens SW1
Tube: Charing Cross
Simon Bolivar
The great liberator of Latin America has this rather poor statue with the inscription: ‘Liberator of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Panama. Founder of Bolivia. Born in Caracas Venezuela 24 July 1783. He died in Santa Maria Colombia 17 December 1830.’
Belgrave Square SW1
Tube: Hyde Park Corner
Fenner Brockway
Anti-war and for Indian independence, Brockway (1888-1988), suspended his pacifism before World War II to help the fight against fascism in Spain. A founder member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, he was also a founder of charity War On Want.
Red Lion Square WC1
Tube: Holborn
Ernest Bevin
Bevin was a founder of the Transport and General Workers Union- Britain’s largest - in 1922. During World War II, he was Minister for Labour. Post-war, he was Foreign Secretary and once said his foreign policy was ‘to be able to take a [train] ticket at Victoria and go anywhere I damn well please!’
Tooley Street SE1
Tube: London Bridge
