Guido was surprised to see liberalising Prime Minister Robert Peel targeted by the left in an increasingly hysterical cultural cull of anyone born before the second world war. The petition initially claimed that Peel “raised a petition against the Foreign Slave Trade Abolition Bill” of 1806, which would have been interesting given Peel was just 18 years old and not an MP at the time. In fact the Robert Peel who raised a petition against the Foreign Slave Trade Abolition Bill was Peel’s more reactionary father of the same name. This has not stopped news outlets claiming that the eventual Prime Minister opposed the abolition of the slave trade, when he did no such thing…
A co-conspirator explains:
“A petition against the Foreign Slave Trade Abolition Bill 1806 was signed by Sir Robert Peel, yes, but a different one to the statue on Woodhouse Moor. It was his father, easy mistake I suppose as he too was an MP with the same name. A bit like blaming Luke Skywalker for the wrongs of Darth Vader. The man on the plinth introduced laws removing capital punishment from 100 crimes, improved working conditions for women and children in factories, reintroduced income tax that now supports our NHS, formed the principles of policing by consent which is so necessary in these times and went against landowner interests to repeal laws preventing cheap food from being imported for the good of Britain and Ireland after famine. BLM and so does a sense of perspective – least of all so my own statue is not toppled!”
The red-faced ‘Peel Must Fall’ brigade have now doubled down on their call to remove the statue when alerted to their embarrassing mistake by our co-conspirator. Their petition to tear down his statue now rests on the basis of “anti-Catholic sentiment” – despite Peel supporting Catholic emancipation – and his being responsible for founding the Metropolitan Police Force, (despite opposing the kind of militaristic policing in other countries, and developing the ‘Peelian Principles’ of policing by consent). Guido thinks some of these protesters should perhaps ‘educate themselves’…
