Lord Cameron insists Holocaust memorial must be built next to parliament

Former prime minister calls opposition to monuments location ‘surrendering’ to anti-Semitism

Lord Cameron has insisted a national Holocaust memorial must be built next to Parliament despite objections from peers.
The former prime minister said moving the site for the monument from Victoria Tower Gardens would be “surrendering” to anti-Semitism.
In his first major speech since the Tories’ election defeat, he said the project would be “a bold unapologetic national statement” against hatred.
He made the remarks after some peers opposed the plans, describing the design of the memorial as an “eyesore” and “a lazy choice”.
The comments were made after the Government retabled legislation that would allow the Holocaust memorial to be built in a park next to Parliament.
Victoria Tower Gardens, by the River Thames, is protected by a 125-year-old law that forbids the construction of any buildings on its site.
The design for the monument includes a series of 23 bronze fins, one for every country the Holocaust occurred in, and there will be an accompanying museum near the site.
Lord Cameron said: “There’s a real power in bringing together the monument and the education and having it at the heart of our democracy.
“This is not just some monument to something that’s happened. It’s a permanent reminder and that’s why it’s so important that it’s co-located with our parliament.
“I want to unashamedly put my cards on the table and say this is the right idea, in the right place, at the right time, and I hope we can make it happen.”
The former foreign secretary said the monument was necessary because anti-Semitism is “getting worse, we’ve seen that tragically in recent years”.
He acknowledged that there would be security concerns around the site, given that it is in a public park that joins onto Westminster Palace.
But he added: “The very fact the issue of security is so great demonstrates why we need to do it so badly, and why locating this somewhere else because of security would be a surrender to those people that don’t want to commemorate the holocaust and don’t want to learn from it.”
Lord Black, a trustee at the Imperial War Museum Foundation, said the proposals for the memorial could be summed up as “great idea, wrong place”.
In a speech to the chamber he criticised the “botched decision making process and lack of consultation”, which led to Victoria Tower Gardens being chosen.
Lord Black, who is also a deputy chairman of the Telegraph Media Group, said: “Virtually everything with this proposal is wrong.
“The right answer is for a memorial and education centre to be housed just a stone’s throw from Parliament at the Imperial War Museum, which has held the national collection for the holocaust for a quarter of a century.
“The IWM is already the central location to which people young and old instinctively go for remembrance and learning.
“Why on earth would we want to build another memorial and learning centre which will inevitably be inferior to that offered by the IWM?”
Baroness Deech also criticised the proposals, calling the design of the memorial an “eyesore” and saying it had been compared to a “giant toast rack”.
She said that the site would also have to be protected by “armed guards” because of both rising anti-Semitism and its proximity to Parliament.
Lord Khan, a housing minister, defended the proposals though added: “I also want to stress that I accept there will never be universal support.”