Harold Wilson’s Statue
We have also been focusing on another town centre issue and that’s the attempt to move Harold Wilson’s statute to what I thought was a rather inauspicious place. I am totally in favour of the re-development of St. George’s square, bringing it back to life. It is one of the greatest Victorian town square’s in the country. But we must be sensitive to any change we bring about to the centre of our town. I quite like the idea of predestining, I sort of like the idea to have fountains that jump out of the earth, similar to those we see elsewhere. But we also have to remember that Harold’s statute was chosen to be there by a very famous sculptor, Ian Walters, who also sculpted the new Nelson Mandela statute here in Parliament Square.
He and Lady Wilson chose that spot because you saw Harold striding out from the station. And when large numbers of people come out of the station in the morning or on a big match day it looks as if Harold is walking along with the crowd. To move it to one side, on a kind of island that was circled by the taxi cabs and buses, seemed very inappropriate. The suggestions Mary Wilson has made and the Prime Minister, who also sent me a personal letter on this, has led to a compromise which is a good one. Moving it slightly back but in the same prominent position will work well.
