There is currently a lot of focus on our Members of Parliament at the moment. Outside the House of Commons is the Members lobby. MPs wait outside before they enter the House and discuss, and they have much to discuss at the moment, the business of the day and the country in general.  In the lobby stand four past Prime Ministers of the main parties cast out of solid bronze looking in judgement at the assembled members. Bronze is the perfect medium for sculpture, especially when you pair this with a concrete plinth for the statue to stand on. A Kent Ready Mix Concrete The main ones in the Lobby are the two former Conservative PM’s, the war leader Winston Churchill and the first female PM Margaret Thatcher.  For Labour there is Clement Attlee the great post war leader who saw in the NHS and the Welfare system and for the Liberals there is David Lloyd-George. Each one, with the exception of Thatcher has a shiny foot where the brass has been rubbed for luck by MP’s. Due to the damage done by this the practice is banned, which is a shame as most MPs could use some of it right now.

  1. Winston Churchill – Sculptured and cast by Churchill’s friend of many years Oscar Nemon the statue is of the War leader in typical assured and confident pose. He is striding out arms bent in two Vs with the hands on the small of the back.
  2. Clement Attlee – Sculptured and cast by Ivor Robert Jones, (who also sculpted Churchill for one in Parliament Square) It shows the man,  thought of as one of the greatest 20th century Prime Ministers due to his ability to unite a cabinet behind the ideals of the Welfare state, nationalisation and the creation of the NHS. He is casual but determined in his pose, left hand in the jacket pocket and the right semi clenched.

  1. David Lloyd-George – The last Liberal PM and the creator of some of the bedrock for the welfare state he was the war leader during the Great War. The statue is of Lloyd-George debating a point gesticulating with his right hand pointing forward.
  2. Margaret Thatcher – The Iron Lady, albeit in bronze, stands also pointing with her right hand and order papers in  her, left dictating some point of policy. The divisive figure deserves her place as the first woman Prime Minister.

The Houses of Parliament is well worth a visit and tour.