Statue Of Joseph Chamberlain

EDM number 464 in 1990-91, proposed by Terry Davis on 13/02/1991.

That this House notes that Joseph Chamberlain represented the City of Birmingham as a Member of Parliament for 38 years following his service as Mayor of Birmingham for three years - a period of municipal enterprise which included the installation of a plentiful, pure and cheap supply of water, the transformation of an inefficient privately-owned gas company into an efficient publicly-owned undertaking, a massive programme of slum clearance, and the provision of much-needed municipal parks, libraries and swimming baths; also notes that Joseph Chamberlain declared himself to have `an abiding faith in municipal institutions and a deep sense of the value and importance of local self-government'; condemns the removal of the statue of Joseph Chamberlain from its place in the Members' Lobby on the recommendation of the Advisory Committee on Works of Art in the House of Commons as a snub to thousands of local councillors who serve their fellow citizens in the tradition of Joseph Chamberlain; and calls for the return of Joseph Chamberlain's statue to the Members' Lobby without delay and the immediate resignation of the members of the Advisory Committee.

This motion has been signed by a total of 13 MPs.