Millicent Fawcett’s great. But enough – Britain has too many statues | Martin Kettle

The last thing we need is a 21st-century statuary race: it doesn’t reflect the pluralistic view we need of our culture

It would have required a heart of stone not to be delighted by the mood at Tuesday’s unveiling in Parliament Square. Never before has there been a statue of a woman in the square that sits at the heart of British government. Now there is one, and of an indisputably suitable candidate, the 19th- and 20th-century women’s suffrage campaigner Millicent Fawcett.

The formal unveiling was a celebratory occasion, and for good reason. Everyone present was in politically ecumenical good humour. Songs were sung and poems were read. Theresa May spoke about the path that Fawcett – who lived to see votes for women become the law of the land when she was in her 80s – had cleared with her campaigning. Jeremy Corbyn sang along to the words of Ethel Smyth’s March of the Women. Women MPs of all parties queued to have their photos taken in front of the statue. It was a privilege to be there.

The Donald Trump Memorial, anyone? The Tony Blair statue?

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