Clement Attlee

The statue of Clement Attlee on the Mile End campus of Queen Mary University of London is a bronze sculpture of the British Prime Minister, created by Frank Forster in 1988. The statue was commissioned by the Greater London Council and was intended to stand in Mile End Park. By the time of its completion in 1988, the GLC had been abolished and the statue was offered to any successor authority willing to pay the relocation costs. These were met by Tower Hamlets London Borough Council and the statue was erected outside the Limehouse Public Library to commemorate Attlee's role as the member for the Limehouse parliamentary constituency. The opening ceremony was carried out by Harold Wilson, the last living member of Attlee's 1945-51 administration. By the 21st century, the statue had been badly vandalised and was boarded up. In 2010, Tower Hamlets Council offered the statue to Queen Mary University of London on permanent loan. It was re-erected on a site at the Mile End Road campus, next to the People's Palace where Attlee had attended the vote counting in the 1945 general election and learnt of the victory which brought in his peace-time government.