The former Corbyn candidate behind the campaign to remove Baden-Powell's statue tweeted 'if you're white, I don't give a s...
The former Corbyn candidate behind the campaign to remove Baden-Powell's statue tweeted 'if you're white, I don't give a sh** about your issues with BLM protests' as the local council was poised to take it down.
It comes as the Liberal Democrat leader of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) council joined calls for a local museum to put its exhibition of the Scouts founder online.
The ex-Labour candidate Corrie Drew - who stood in Bournemouth East in 2019 and - is among those demanding the removals of statues across the country.
At the time she was working as a part-time cleaner and recevied donated cash from two crowdfunding pages so she could focus on campaigning for the election.
The statue was due to be pulled down by council workers at 7.30am this morning but the crew stayed away fearing a 'circus' after news of its removal prompted angry protests by former Scouts and locals.
She said today: 'Our people deserve better than a monument to Baden Powell. His starting of the scouting movement can be no excuse for his documented homophobia, racism and enthusiastic support of Hitler'.
Pictured: Former Labour candidate for Bournemouth East Corrie Drew and, right, local Lib Dem council leader Vikki Slade speaking to crowds - inclduing former Scouts - who descended on the seafront in a bid to stop the statue's removal today
Corrie Drew, pictured with then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, was behind the campaign to remove the statue of Lord Baden-Powell who launched the Scouting movement, which has 54m members worldwide today
Rover Scout Matthew Trott salutes a statue of Robert Baden-Powell on Poole Quay in Dorset ahead of its expected removal to 'safe storage' following concerns about his actions while in the military and 'Nazi sympathies'
This morning she also tweeted: 'I'd like to state, in the strongest terms possible: If you're white, I don't give a sh** about your issues with the BlackLivesMatter protest or movement. We haven't endured lifelong abuse & discrimination because of our skin colour. Support or shut up.'
It follows Black Lives Matter protesters tearing down the statue of slave holder Edward Colston in Bristol on Sunday, and a memorial to Robert Milligan being removed from London docklands on Tuesday.
Former scouts today vowed to defend the seaside statue of Robert Baden-Powell due to be hauled down later after Black Lives Matter protesters branded him racist, homophobic and fascist as the campaign to remove approaching 80 historic monuments in Britain hurtles on.
Local residents gather by a statue of Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout movement, is pictured on the promenade in Bournemouth
Local residents show their support for a statue of Robert Baden-Powell on Poole Quay in Dorset this morning
People are seen putting a face mask onto a statue of Robert Baden-Powell in Poole, the statue is due to be removed following protests against the death of George Floyd who died in police custody in Minneapolis
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council leader Vikki Slade, a Liberal Democrat, says the statue on Poole Quay facing Brownsea Island where the first scout camp was held in 1907 will be taken down immediately and put in 'safe storage'.
The council tried to shift the blame to remove the statue onto the police today. BCP council, run by an alliance of Lib Dem, Labour, Green and Independent councillors, said they took the decision after Dorset Police advised them to remove it 'to minimise the risk of any public disorder or anti-social behaviour' after chaos in Bristol when a bronze of slave trader Edward Colston was torn down on Sunday.
However the force said it only provided advice after the council approached them, saying it was a 'potential target' - and the Scout Association suggested it had no knowledge of the council's plans until after a decision was made.
There is fury over the statue's planned removal today with former Queen's Scout Len Bannister, 79, guarding it this morning declaring: 'If they want to knock this down - they'll have to knock me down first'.
He told ITV News: 'It's absolutely crazy. Who's it that actually wants to do it? I'll fight them off. I'm actually very angry - and I'm not a protester. I've had a lot of enjoyment because of him in my life because of him'.
Local Tory MP Conor Burns tweeted earlier: 'The removal of the statue of Lord Baden Powell from Poole is a huge error of judgement. Very concerned by the idea it is on advice from @dorsetpolice'. He added: 'Are we going to follow the example of the Met and Bristol and let the mob rule the streets?'
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council leader Vikki Slade, a Liberal Democrat, says the statue on Poole Quay facing Brownsea Island where the first scout camp was held in 1907 will be taken down immediately and put in 'safe storage'.
But there is fury over the statue's planned removal today with local Tory MP Conor Burns tweeting: 'The removal of the statue of Lord Baden Powell from Poole is a huge error of judgement. Very concerned by the idea it is on advice from @dorsetpolice'. He added: 'Are we going to follow the example of the Met and Bristol and let the mob rule the streets?'
A 'hit list' of 78 statues and memorials to some of Britain's most famous figures has been created by an anti-racism group urging local communities to remove them because they 'celebrate racism and slavery'
The Scouts have released a statement this morning, and although they refused to condemn the decision they said they hoped it would be 'temporary'.
BCP council, run by an alliance of Lib Dem, Labour, Green and Independent councillors, took the decision after Dorset Police advised them to remove it 'to minimise the risk of any public disorder or anti-social behaviour' after chaos in Bristol when a bronze of slave trader Edward Colston was torn down on Sunday.
Councillor Slade said: 'Whilst famed for the creation of the Scouts, we also recognise that there are some aspects of Robert Baden-Powell's life that are considered less worthy of commemoration. Therefore, we are removing the statue so that we can properly involve all relevant communities and groups in discussions about its future, including whether a more educational presentation of his life in a different setting might be more appropriate.'
The campaign for the statue's removal has been led by Corrie Drew, who describes herself as a BLM supporter on Twitter but was also Jeremy Corbyn's Labour general election campaign candidate for the area in 2019.
The next in line? BLM supporters have pinpointed a list of their next targets, but the most widely shared are (top left to bottom right) 1) Lord Nelson – tried to stop abolition (Nelson's column) 2) Sir Thomas Picton 3) Thomas Guy - London, Guy's Hospital 4) Sir Robert Peel 5) Sir Francis Drake 6) William Beckford 7) Henry Dundas 8) Clive of India 9) John Cass 10) General Sir Redvers Buller 11) Lord Kitchener 12) Ronald Fisher 13) Lord Grey - Grey's Monument - Newcastle Upon Tyne, Grainger Street 14) Oliver Cromwell – Statue - London, Houses of Parliament 15) Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde – Statue - Glasgow, George Square 16) William Ewart Gladstone 17) William Leverhulme – Statue - Wirral, outside Lady Lever Art Gallery 18) William Armstrong - Memorial - Newcastle Upon Tyne, Eldon Place 19) King James II – Statue - London, Trafalgar Square 20) General James George Smith Neill, Wellington Square, Ayr
But Andrew Williams, the chairman of Poole Scout District Executive, has revealed that nobody had contacted him and told the Bournemouth Echo newspaper that initially he thought it 'must have been a hoax'. And councillor Mark Howell, BCP cabinet member for regeneration and ward councillor for Poole Town, said he believed on 'on balance' that the scout founder's contribution to society was 'positive'.
Lord Baden-Powell was honoured with a statue in Poole 12 years ago because he founded the world Scout Movement that has helped tens of millions of children - and the bronze monument looks out to Brownsea Island where he held the first Scout camp in 1907.
Black Lives Matter supporters added the Poole statue to its 'topple the racists' list claiming was enthusiastic about Nazism and an admirer of Hitler's Mein Kampf and his Hitler Youth movement - although his biographer Tim Jeal has said this support was more about his distrust of communism.
He became a British national hero during the Second Boer War in South Africa for defending a garrison town for 217 days from 5,000 Boer troops - but after his death in 1941 some modern historians branded him racist because he starved locals so he could feed his own soldiers. Baden-Powell also mounted an attack on masturbation and homosexuality, linking them to sexual and moral dissipation.
In June last year Corrie Drew hit headlines when she said she wanted the public to pay for her rent, bills and even food through crowdfunding so she can stay glued to the campaign trail.
Two Just Giving pages were set up to raise funds for the Parliamentary candidate for Bournemouth East, and almost 100 people from across the country have given a total of more than £2,000 to the 37-year-old since December 2018.
She works part-time as a cleaner - and is lodging to save money - but says that is not enough to make ends meet while canvassing support.
Corrie Drew (pictured) - the Parliamentary candidate for Bournemouth East - set up two Just Giving pages to raise funds from supporters
It reportedly costs prospective candidates £11,000 to stand in an election. The large sum can price people on lower incomes out of becoming a candidate, figures revealed in 2018.
Ms Drew - who described herself as a 'council estate girl' on her Twitter bio - said: 'I still cannot continue to give so many hours to Labour, though, without your help.'
Her Just Giving page said: 'Corrie is fiercely committed to building a country that works for everyone with not one of us left out.
'She dedicates much of her time to campaigning and training whilst still trying to hold down a job.
'Running a campaign which is reliant on local volunteers, whilst being on a low income herself, means that Corrie really struggles to juggle paying for her own rent and bills.'
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