Overview
- Banksy claimed the work on Instagram on Thursday, sharing night-time footage of cranes and crew installing the statue at Waterloo Place.
- The life-size figure in a suit holds a flag that covers his face as he steps off a plinth near memorials to Edward VII, Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War.
- Westminster City Council placed metal barriers around the site and said it had taken initial steps to safeguard the piece while keeping public access.
- Viewers and commentators widely read the work as a jab at blind patriotism, and many asked how such a large piece was installed in a highly watched area.
- The piece is Banksy’s first confirmed London work in more than four months and arrives after a Reuters probe named Robin Gunningham as the artist, a claim he has not confirmed.