Margaret Thatcher statue egged within hours of going up in home town of Grantham

Protester arrived in the morning with a carton of eggs as memorial to former PM installed

A statue of Margaret Thatcher was egged less than two hours after being installed in her home town of Grantham.

Onlookers voiced their disapproval of the new memorial to the divisive former prime minister, with several motorists booing loudly as they drove past. One man shouted “Tear it down” while another said “This is no good for Grantham, is it?”

The £300,000 statue was lowered into place in the Lincolnshire town on Sunday, after plans to put it in Parliament Square in London were opposed because of fears it would be vandalised.

In Grantham it was decided that the statue should be placed on a 10ft granite plinth, with a CCTV camera installed directly opposite in an attempt to deter vandals.

Reports originally presented to South Kesteven District Council showed that the decision to place the statue in the area was made in the light of concerns over a “motivated far-left movement ... who may be committed to public activism”.

After a large-scale £100,000 unveiling ceremony was approved by the council in 2020, a Facebook group proposing an “egg-throwing contest” at the event attracted interest from more than 13,000 people.

Around 2,400 others visited the Facebook page to say they would go to the event, which was to include “egg throwing ... and potentially graffiti art”.

On Sunday, a man in a white shirt showed up to the installation with a carton of eggs, and began hurling them at the statue from behind a temporary fence surrounding it.

A cry of “Oi!” was heard after an egg landed on its target, and police arrived within minutes.

The statue remained behind the fence, but a council spokesperson said the Public Memorials Appeal, which funded the statue through donations, would host an official unveiling ceremony at a later date.