THREE years ago, we warned that the iconoclasts were on the march as Leftists tried to purge our past by tearing down monuments to great historical figures – targeting among others Horatio Nelson and Oliver Cromwell.

But we could not have imagined how the virus of vandalism would fester and grow with such speed. Now the mobs are ripping apart the fabric of our society, with the disgraceful defacing of Churchill’s statue plinth during the BLM demonstrations not the least of it.

In 2017, as a counterpoint to the craziness, we challenged our team of writers to say who best deserved to be celebrated with a statue.

We asked who contributed to the emergence of British classical liberal thinking, or to the British constitutional order. Who sustained our Judeo-Christian culture, who displayed courage and self-sacrifice? Who are the people every British child should be taught about and learn to respect, if not regard with awe?

Nominations included the man whose name is indelibly associated with freedom of speech, William Cobbett, the former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the Reformation scholar William Tyndale and Colditz escaper Airey Neave.

And now, as the need to protect, preserve and take pride in our history and heritage grows more urgent, we are asking TCW readers to make their own nominations of men and women who are past and present champions of liberty and who still need to be celebrated in stone, explaining why in 500 words. 

Start nominating now and we will publish the best.