Britain's Thatcher 'beheaded' at art gallery

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Reuters, Posted July 3 2002, 4:06 PM EDT

LONDON - Margaret Thatcher lost her head in a London art gallery Wednesday when a man decapitated a new statue of Britain's former prime minister, police said.

The 8-foot-tall marble likeness -- unveiled only in May and destined eventually to grace the House of Commons -- was left headless after the man walked into the gallery and battered it with a steel scaffolding pole.

``A man ... has knocked off the head of the statue of Margaret Thatcher. He has been arrested and is now in custody,'' a City of London police spokeswoman told Reuters.

No further details were available about the assailant, who had not yet been charged, police said.

The Conservative ``Iron Lady,'' who polarized British politics with a radical, right-wing program in the 1980s, has praised the work by sculptor Neil Simmons.

Her spokesman said the 76-year-old former premier would not comment on the attack.

A spokesman for the Guildhall Art Gallery, in the British capital's City of London financial district, said the headless statue was swiftly removed from view. A decision on its future would be made after Simmons had taken a look at it.

The two-ton statue was intended for the House of Commons but parliamentary rules dictate that it cannot join those of other former leaders until five years after her death.

Labor's Tony Banks, a firebrand socialist who heads parliament's works of arts committee, said that although the statue was a controversial commission, acts of vandalism against works of art could never be tolerated.

City of London Lord Mayor Michael Oliver said: ``Whatever one's views of Baroness Thatcher's politics, she is a unique and important part of the recent history of our country.''

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