[title]
Last month, a band of ‘art activists’ approached City Hall with an unusual request. They wanted permission to launch a giant, orange inflatable depiction of Donald Trump as a naked, tweeting baby into the sky above Westminster. The Trump Baby blimp’s maiden voyage would coincide with the US President’s impending visit to the UK, with crowdfunding covering the huge amounts of helium required to keep the six-metre balloon flying.
At first, Sadiq Khan’s team said no. The official line was that the Trump Baby was not a protest, but a piece of art. ‘Taking the piss is one of the few areas where Britain still leads the world,’ wrote group spokesman Leo Murray in The Guardian, ‘so the refusal from the Mayor’s office to let Trump Baby fly over Parliament feels somehow unpatriotic.’
But after a petition to ‘Let Trump Baby Fly’ gained more than 10,000 signatures, the Mayor has now given the project the green light. Trump Baby will fly, floating above the anti-Trump march in central London next Friday. So if you see an inflatable world leader in a nappy bobbing about London next week, don’t worry: you aren’t tripping absolute balls, you’re witnessing a very British act of protest.
Sign up here to get the latest from London straight to your inbox.