New statue of former PM Margaret Thatcher has been vandalised hours after it was erected

A new statue of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher has been vandalised - just hours after it was erected.

The £300,000 monument was today (Sun) installed without ceremony in her hometown of Grantham, Lincs., on a 10ft (3m) high plinth under CCTV surveillance.

The statue towers over St Peter's Hill Green, close to the site of the grocers shop owned by Baroness Thatcher's family.

But within just two hours of it being put in place - and despite a temporary fence surrounding the memorial - eggs had been thrown at it.

Video shared on social media showed a man in a white t-shirt approach the site with a box of eggs before throwing three towards the statue.

The first two missed, but the protester connected with one egg, which was still visible on the statue on Sunday afternoon.

The divisive memorial was offered to South Kesteven District Council after Westminster Council rejected it amid fears of "civil disobedience and vandalism".

A planned £100,000 unveiling ceremony was heavily criticised in 2020 and more than 13,000 expressed interest in a proposed an "egg-throwing contest" on Facebook.

The UK's first female prime minister - dubbed the Iron Lady - was born in Grantham in 1925 and died in April 2013, aged 87.

The only previous memorial to her in the town was a plaque on the corner of North Parade and Broad Street to mark where she was born.