Forget Banksy and clean the Ram!

1.40.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 24th Oct 2007

Cllr Stephanie Eaton with the defaced Ram sculpture

Tower Hamlets Liberal Democrats today criticised the Lead Member for 'Cleaner, Safer, Greener' for his phony war on Banksy, the popular graffiti artist.

Speaking of the problem of graffiti, Leader of the Libdems, Cllr Stephanie Eaton commented "I'd rather the Lead Member concentrate on cleaning up the graffiti that we already have blighting our streets rather than start a campaign against Banksy. If and when Bansky works in Tower Hamlets we can seek the views of local people about whether his images should stay. We know what they think about tagging and other eyesores, they should be cleaned up quickly!"

Pointing to the sculpture of a Ram outside the Spitalfields City farm, Cllr Eaton commented: "I presume that Councillor Ullah would agree that this is art, and yet he has apparently done nothing to clean off the graffiti that spoils it."

According to the local newspaper The East London Advertiser, Councillor Abdal Ullah, declared 'war' on Banksy by promising to wipe away his work if it appears."I don't care if people think it's art,... one man's art like this is another man's vandalism."