Plinth 'should honour hero who led Battle of Britain'

A City financier has launched a bid to have a permanent memorial to a Battle of Britain leader on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.

Terry Smith is willing to invest more than £100,000 on a bronze statue of former air chief marshal Sir Keith Park, a New Zealander credited with masterminding the RAF's defence of the UK, who died in 1975.

He believes this would be a better use of the plinth than the rolling commission of modern art overseen by Mayor Ken Livingstone.

Mr Smith, chief executive of City trading house Tullett Prebon, has commissioned New Zealand sculptor Roderick Burgess to create a bronze statue of Sir Keith standing up to 12ft high.

Sir Keith was said by Sir Douglas Bader to have borne the "awesome responsibility" for ensuring Britain's survival against German planes, while Lord Tedder, as marshal of the RAF, said of him: "If any man won the Battle of Britain, he did."

Mr Smith said a model of Sir Keith would fit in well alongside other military heroes in the square, such as Nelson, Havelock and Napier. He added: "It is unbelievable that there is no recognition of a man who made such a massive contribution to Britain's defence."

Tory London Assembly member Angie Bray, who is quizzing the Mayor over the cost of the fourth plinth art scheme, said: "It's time we had something substantial and significant.

"It's a square where we should recognise our service heroes. The RAF is the only one that is woefully missing and it's of particular significance for London because we wouldn't all be here if it wasn't for people like Keith Park."

At present, the plinth is occupied by Model For A Hotel by German artist Thomas Sch¸tte. This replaced Alison Lapper Pregnant by Marc Quinn and is expected to be in place for around 18 months.

A consultation on six shortlisted replacements, including proposed works by Tracey Emin, Antony Gormley and Anish Kapoor, will be concluded next month.

Emin wants to place statues of meerkats on the plinth to symbolise "unity and safety", while Gormley would invite members of the public to stand on it for an hour each.