Former UK PM Margaret Thatcher statue targeted in UK for third time; smeared 'Tories out'

A popular statue of Margaret Thatcher located in hometown of former UK PM was vandalised for third time this year on Saturday, BBC reported.

bronze sculpture, which costs a whopping £300,000, is situated in St Peter's Hill in Grantham, Lincolnshire. Despite structure being constantly under CCTV surveillance, it became target of vandalists, who smeared "Tories out" on it. phrase was spray-painted yellow in capital letters. Lincolnshire Police labelled  act as criminal dam, Metro reported.

“Incident 117 of 22 October is a report of criminal dam to Margaret Thatcher statue on St Peter’s Hill, Grantham. This was reported just after 8 am,” a police spokesperson said. Several locals reacted to vandalism after pictures of graffiti surfaced on social media. incident comes as United Kingdom undergoes a period of instability and political uncertainty after resignation of Liz Truss from post of Prime Minister.

However, this isn’t first time that statue has been subject to defacement. Earlier in May, sculpture was egged by Jeremy Webster, a 59-year-old arts chief of University of Leicester. Webster was fined £90 for act after Lincolnshire Police said it had issued a fixed penalty tice under Section 5 of Public Order Act. University of Leicester, where Webster works, said that it "does t condone defacement".

Who is Margaret Thatcher?

statue, which stands atop a 10 feet high pedestal, pays hom to Margaret Thatcher, who served as Prime Minister of UK from 1979 to 1990 and led Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. Hatcher made history by becoming UK’s first female premier and British PM with longest tenure in 20th century. 

She was born on October 13, 1925, in Grantham, to Alfred Roberts and Beatrice El Stephenson. She began her political career in 1950 and 1951 general elections by contesting as Conservative candidate for Labour seat of English town of Dartford. She gradually climbed up rungs of political ladder to become leader of Conservative Party and first female Prime Minister of United Kingdom. Thatcher passed away on April 8, 2013, at of 87.