metro.co.uk/2019/11/29/theresa-may-fire-unveiling-statue-nazi-sympathising-mp-11242921/
Theresa May under fire after unveiling statue of ‘Nazi-sympathising’ MP
Theresa May has come under fire after unveiling a statue that ‘honours a Nazi-sympathising anti-Semite’.
Britain’s former prime minister travelled to Plymouth on Thursday for a ceremony to unveil a bronze statue of Nancy Astor who was the first female MP to sit in Parliament.
Mrs May said she was ‘honoured’ to be taking part in the event, adding that she was ‘especially pleased to do so, as our country’s second female prime minister’.
Boris Johnson also made a visit to the statue while on the General Election campaign trail, joining Rebecca Smith, the Conservative candidate for Plymouth Sutton.
However, the unveiling event – held near to Lady Astor’s former family home – spurred fury online, with thousands of people alleging that Ms Astor was a Nazi sympathiser.
On Twitter, Ash Sarkar accused the Conservatives of ‘celebrating notorious anti-Semites’.
She wrote: ‘Nancy Astor was a Nazi sympathiser who speculated that Hitler could be the solution to the ‘world problem’ of Jews.
‘Why, in this political climate, do the Conservatives get a free pass to celebrate notorious antisemites?’
In the lead up to the Second World War, Lady Astor is said to have written to US Ambassador to Britain Joseph Kenendy Sr. saying that Hitler might be the solution to the ‘world problem’ of Jews.
She added that Hitler would have to do more than just ‘give a rough time’ to ‘the killers of Christ’ before she would support an Armageddon to save them.
‘The wheel of history swings round as the Lord would have it. Who are we to stand in the way of the future?’
Professor David Feldman, director of the Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism, has also recounted an episode he uncovered in which Lady Astor argued Jews were to blame in some measure for their persecution, according to Jewish News.
At a Jewish charity dinner held at the Savoy Hotel in London in November 1934, she is alleged to have ‘turned to James McDonald [the League of Nations’ high commissioner for refugees] and asked ‘did I not after all believe there must be something of the Jews themselves which had brought them persecution throughout all the ages.
‘Was it not therefore, in the final analysis, their responsibility?”
In 1939, she was dubbed ‘the Member for Berlin’, by MP Stafford Cripps during a Parliamentary debate about training of the military.
This was a reference to the American-born British politician’s perceived attitude towards Germany at the time of the Third Reich.
Ash’s post claiming that the Conservative Party was ‘celebrating notorious antisemites’ received more than 21,000 likes and 7,300 retweets.
Thousands of people were outraged in the comment section, with many accusing the Conservative Party of not caring about anti-Semitism.
Chris Jackson wrote: ‘Anti semitic and anti catholic. So much for a society that supposedly respects people from other Faith’s and backgrounds. Reward people with abhorrent views with a statue.
Matt Shaw added: ‘It’s almost as if they couldn’t give a s**t about anti-Semitism’.
Another person under the username @SaltMerchantYT said: ‘It’s super not great that a feminist icon who set the landmark of becoming the first female MP was also a massive s**thouse.’
The bronze tribute, by artist and sculptor Hayley Gibbs, is the result of a £125,000 crowdfunding project spearheaded by the Nancy Astor Statue Appeal.
At the unveiling event on Thursday, Mrs May told the crowd: ‘When Nancy Astor became the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons, 100 years ago, our country and our democracy were changed for the better.
‘Her arrival in Parliament ushered in a new era.
‘Finally giving a voice to a huge swathe of the population, who for too long had been missing from our politics and our law-making.’
Lady Astor served in Parliament as a member of the Conservative Party for Plymouth Sutton until 1945.
She is well remembered for her support towards lowering the voting age for women from 30 to 21 and the Intoxicating Liquor Act which restricted the sale of alcohol to those 18 and above, rather than 14.
Metro.co.uk has contacted Mrs May, the Conservative Party and the Nancy Astor Statue Appeal for comment.