{"id":26431,"date":"2026-05-01T10:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T10:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/26431\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T10:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T10:26:14","slug":"westminster-council-reveals-plans-for-new-banksy-flag-statue-after-it-appears-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/26431\/","title":{"rendered":"Westminster Council reveals plans for new Banksy flag statue after it appears in London"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Mysterious artist Banksy<\/a> brought some excitement to central London yesterday when he revealed a new sculpture in Pall Mall <\/a>\u2013 and now Westminster Council has given its verdict on whether the statue can stay. <\/p>\n

Banksy, who has never publicly confirmed his identity, claimed a sculpture of a suited man marching off a plinth as his billowing flag covers his face on Thursday (30 April) after it was spotted on Waterloo Place the day before. <\/p>\n

The artist\u2019s signature was scrawled at the bottom of the work and Banksy later taking to his Instagram page to confirm that it belonged to him<\/a>, sharing a video of the statue being installed. \u201cThere was a bit of a gap,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe council has said that it \u201cwelcomes\u201d the statue (Reuters)<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s always a risk that Banksy\u2019s street art could be removed by local authorities, Westminster Council has said that its focus is on allowing the statue to be enjoyed while options are considered. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe welcome Banksy\u2019s latest sculpture in Westminster, which makes a striking addition to the city\u2019s vibrant public art scene,\u201d a spokesperson for Westminster City Council told The Independent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we have taken initial steps to protect the statue, at this time it will remain accessible for the public to view and enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since bursting onto the British art scene in the 1990s, Banksy \u2013 who is thought to have been born Robin Gunningham<\/a> \u2013 has become well known for his politically-charged murals, including 2002\u2019s Girl With Balloon, 2003\u2019s Love Is In The Air, and 2004\u2019s Kissing Coppers. <\/p>\n

The pseudonymous figure\u2019s work has been sold for millions<\/a> over the years while much of his street work is still in place, however some pieces were removed or stolen. <\/p>\n

\"Banksy\u2019sBanksy\u2019s piece on the wall of London\u2019s Royal Court of Justice, which was scrubbed in September (PA)<\/p>\n

In September, a new Banksy mural depicting a judge beating a protester appeared on the wall of London\u2019s Royal Courts of Justice <\/a>\u2013 but it was quickly scrubbed from the building<\/a>. Court administrators ordered it to be removed, stating that the 143-year-old building is \u201cvalued for its historical significance and must maintain its original character\u201d.<\/p>\n

Transport for London also weren\u2019t impressed by Banksy\u2019s work after he revealed a coronavirus-themed piece on a London Underground<\/a> carriage in 2020. The stencil work, which depicted rats with face masks, was removed due to TfL\u2019s \u201cstrict anti-graffiti policy\u201d, with the government body saying it would welcome Banksy to recreate the message \u201cin a suitable location\u201d. <\/p>\n

In 2024, thieves stole a Banksy work<\/a> in south London, less than an hour after it had been unveiled by the street artist. <\/a>Video footage showed three men scale a building in Peckham to take the piece \u2013 a howling wolf painted onto a satellite dish. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[494,956,424,27],"class_list":{"0":"post-26431","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-art","9":"tag-culture","10":"tag-lifestyle","11":"tag-london"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116498843769827377","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}