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On Sunday, Black Lives Matter protesters pulled down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston and dumped it into the River Avon in Bristol. The move has sparked discussion on whether other statues should still stand on their pedestals. On Tuesday, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan announced a commission to examine the future of landmarks around the capital, including murals, street art, street names and statues.

In Oxford, councillors have backed the campaign to remove a statue of Cecil Rhodes and called on Oxford University to “decolonise”.

Some 26 city councillors signed a letter saying the figure at Oriel College was “incompatible” with the city’s “commitment to anti-racism”.

The Oxford city councillors said in a letter the “city’s public art and monuments should reflect its values”.

The letter added: “The presence of this statue on our high street is incompatible with our city’s proud internationalist heritage and commitment to anti-racism.

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• Huge protest planned TODAY to demand removal of Cecil Rhodes statue

A petition on change.org have currently been signed more than 12,000 times to remove the statue of Rhodes.

The petition reads: “Oriel College, University of Oxford, has refused to take down this statue of Rhodes despite protests.

“Oxford claims to be in support of creating an equal space for students of all backgrounds, but how can they with a glorified white supremacist as a figurehead for one of their colleges?

“Oxford needs to take down the statue of Cecil Rhodes if they are ever to prove that the University is truly dedicated to equality and racial justice.”

Who was Cecil Rhodes?

Rhodes was a British businessman, politician and imperialist, born in 1853.

He played a dominant role in southern Africa in the late 19th Century, driving the annexation of vast swathes of land.

An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his British South Africa Company founded the southern African territory of Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe and Zambia, which the company named after him in 1895.

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Rhodes was a controversial man even in his own time, and back the Jameson Raid of 1895.

During the raid, a small British force tried to overthrow the gold-rich Transvaal Republic, helping prompt the Second Boer War, in which tens of thousands died.

He also grew cotton with his brother in Natal, but moved into diamond mining, founding De Beers, which until recently controlled the global trade.

Rhodes’s legacy continues to finance scholarships bearing his name today.

He set up the provisions of the Rhodes Scholarship, which is funded by his estate.

The scholarships have allowed overseas students to come to Oxford University; among them former US President Bill Clinton.

South Africa’s Rhodes University is also named after him.

One of Rhodes’s primary motivations in politics and business was his professed belief the Anglo-Saxon race was, to quote his will, “the first race in the world”.

Under the reasoning that “the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race”, he advocated vigorous settler colonialism and ultimately a reformation of the British Empire so that each component would be self-governing and represented in a single parliament in London.

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