Sadiq Khan’s ‘Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm’ established in the midst of the summer’s statue-mania when statues were being torn down has now been constituted, and its membership is eyebrow raising to say the least. In the summer, Khan announced a review of all of London’s statues and street names, saying any with links to slavery “should be taken down”. Now he seems to be making good on his promise by collecting a group of people who seem keen to strip London of its history. The new commission includes:

• Toyin Agbetu, who heckled the Queen and Archbishop and yelled that she should be ashamed.
• Aindrea Emelife, who has expressed her delight at “guerrilla style” statue removal. Over the summer Emelife said of activism in Bristol: “she described ‘seeing the crane lift this up onto the plinth from our lookout point. The rush of adrenaline as this project is realised guerrilla style.’
• Riz Ahmed, who called Mr Johnson “an out-and-out complete c*nt” who is “overtly racist”. He also said he hates the word ‘diversity’ because it does not equate with true representation.
• Lynette Nabbosa, who has claimed that white supremacy is uniquely British. She wrote: “if you look back far enough (and not always that far), the UK seems to be the common denominator in atrocities across the world. No matter where you find examples of white supremacy, all roads lead back to my country of birth. It was racism that birthed slavery and colonialism. We say it is in the past but our schools, colleges, universities, streets, museums etc have never stopped honouring the enforcers of our oppression.”

Guido can guess what conclusions they are going to come to and fears most for the 1586 statue of Queen Elizabeth I. London’s oldest statue and the only one remaining that was carved in her reign, originally stood above Ludgate at the entrance to the City of London. She of course profited from the trans-Atlantic slave trade. She will be a priority for Khan’s woke panel which has been put together at the staggering cost of £247,000.