Greenham women branded 'con artists'

Welsh campaigners led the demonstration

A Tory AM has condemned plans for a statue commemorating Greenham Common protesters, branding them "a bunch of con artists, communists and drop-outs".

Instead, Assembly Member for Monmouth and Conservative chief whip David Davies said a sculpture of Baroness Thatcher would be a more fitting icon.

Conservative Chief Whip David Davies

Mr Davies was reacting to a campaign by Welsh anti-nuclear demonstrators - who led the siege of the Greenham Common airbase in Berkshire in the early 1980s - to raise money for a commemorative statue.

A touring exhibition charting the involvement of Welsh women aims to raise money for a life-size statue which, they hope, will be located at the Welsh Assembly.

But Mr Davies has refused to support the moves to mark the protesters' efforts.

He said that while the women were "sitting in their wigwams" he was "doing something constructive" by signing up with the Territorial Army.

Money is being raised for a life-sized version

The women were, he said, "a bunch of con artists,communists and drop-outs".

"If anyone deserves a statue to commemorate the work they did in bringing peace to Europe, it should be Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev," he said.

Mr Davies said he had written to First Secretary Rhodri Morgan asking for a statue of Mrs Thatcher to be put up instead.

Meanwhile, the archive charting the campaign is in the middle of its tour of Wales to help raise the £20,000 needed for the project.

Greenham veteran Thalia Campbell

The world-famous demonstration began in September 1981 when a group of women marched for ten days from their south Wales homes to the Berkshire airbase from where America intended to fly in 96 cruise missiles.

"The women who set the march up lived in Wales around Carmarthenshire, and I think the atmosphere in Wales was different to England," explained Greenham veteran Thalia Campbell.

"It was more progressive and we were ahead of our time here in Wales. I think we took the message to England and then to the rest of the world."

Thousands of protesters gathered to voice discontent at the siting of 96 Cruise missiles in Britain.

The missiles were eventually flown back to The United States of America. The last of them left in 1991.