Edward Colston’s statue may be down, but the Bristol mayor has a lot of work to do

Marvin Rees says that, as a high-profile black politician, he is being ‘boxed in’ as the Black Lives Matter campaign threatens to overtake other important duties, Janet Street-Porter writes

Marvin Rees is the first directly elected black mayor in the UK (AP)

I’m impressed by the mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, the first directly elected black mayor in the UK.

When demonstrators recently tore down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston and dumped it in the docks, the mayor (who might have sympathised as his ancestors hailed from Jamaica) had it hauled out and sent it to be restored. It may go eventually on display in a museum, if that’s what locals want.

Rees has set up a commission to help Bristol’s residents “understand its full city history” and they will be consulted about what might fill the empty plinth – but it’s already causing more controversy, with vandals desecrating the grave of an enslaved African man in the city.

Another person who weighed into the debate is sculptor Marc Quinn, who secretly made a statue of Black Lives Matter protester Jen Reid, sticking it on the plinth in the dark earlier this week. The artwork was soon removed on the mayor’s orders.

Rees complains that, as a high-profile black politician, he is being “boxed in” as the Black Lives Matter campaign threatens to overtake his other considerably important duties – overseeing regeneration of the city centre and finding funding for more housing. Some people have complained that because Quinn is a white Londoner he’s not entitled to comment and that any new statue should be by a black artist.

I don’t envy Marvin Rees one bit.