• The Housing Secretary has criticised a school in Newark for changing its name
• Gladstone, a four-time Prime Minister, was MP in the Nottinghamshire town
• His father was a prominent slave trader, owning many Caribbean plantations
• Jenrick has also proposed a new law stating statues should not be taken down 
• He said it was wrong statues are being removed 'at the hands of the flash mob' 

Minister Robert Jenrick has slammed a school's decision to remove William Gladstone from its name because of the Victorian politician's links to slavery.

The William Gladstone Church Of England Academy, in Jenrick's Constituency of Newark, Nottinghamshire, is now known as The King's Church of England Primary Academy.

Gladstone was MP for Newark in the 1830s before becoming prime minister and the school had been named in his honour.

But in the wake of last year's Black Lives Matter protests, the school's decided to axe the name after recognising that Gladstone's family were prominent slave owners, even though he himself did not own slaves.

Housing Secretary Jenrick has now accused the school of 'cancelling our culture' and said it should focus on raising standards rather than rebranding after it was classed as requiring improvement by Ofsted.

It comes as Jenrick is set to change laws to make it harder for left-wing councils to conduct a 'revisionist purge' by taking down statues and changing road names.

The minister will change the law and make it so that historic monuments cannot be removed without a formal planning process. 

The legislation will also state that controversial statues should be explained and contextualised, rather than concealed and therefore protected.  

Speaking about the school's name change to the Newark Advertiser, Jenrick said: 'I am saddened by the renaming of the William Gladstone school on the pretext of his family's link to slavery.

'Gladstone was Newark's MP and our country's Prime Minister. He was one of the greatest figures of the 19th Century.

'This attempt to distort history and, having done so, to extinguish our connection with it, is reprehensible.'

Jenrick pointed out Ofsted's concerns with teaching at the school.

He added: 'The school should be educating and informing its pupils of our history, not cancelling our culture and wasting money on rebranding. And its headteacher and governors should focus on raising standards for the benefit of young people - which is their job.'

The primary school approved the name change after months of consultation with trustees and governors and held a celebration day to mark the change of its name to The King's Church of England Primary Academy.

Head teacher Sarah Clarke declined to comment on what Jenrick had to say.

But at the time of the consultation, she said: 'I have to be honest and say that as a school we have long been at odds with the name, and the fact that it doesn't reflect that we are a Church of England school.

'In addition, the name itself and what it means could make many people in our community feel they might not be as valued as others.

'This simply could not be further from the truth. In our school community, all are welcome, valued and treated with equity and respect.

'Raising aspirations in our school community, and ensuring all children are proud of their school association is key to all future success.

'We are proud of our Christian distinctiveness and all Church of England schools by design have inclusivity at their heart.

'Though our discussions on this matter were started months ago, we do feel powerfully aligned with the will for change being driven by the Black Lives Matter campaign.'  

Jenrick's comments come as he tries to stop Labour councils from being able to easily replace street names which are linked to the British Empire. 

Just four days ago, a London council renamed a road that honoured the hero of Lucknow Sir Major General Henry Havelock after the founder of Sikhism.   

A section of Havelock Road - named after the military leader who has a statue in Trafalgar Square - was officially renamed Guru Nanak Road in Southall, Ealing, on Monday.

The change of the new road sign has sparked a furious row as critics called it 'airbrushing history' and say it is the latest bid to try and erase Britain's cultural heritage.

General Havelock led the British army to recapture Cawnpore in India during the siege of Lucknow in 1857. 

Mr Jenrick wrote in The Telegraph that it was wrong that statues were being removed 'at the hands of the flash mob, or by the decree of a cultural committee of town hall militants and woke worthies'.

He added: 'We live in a country that believes in the rule of law, but when it comes to protecting our heritage, due process has been overridden. That can't be right.

'Local people should have the chance to be consulted whether a monument should stand or not.

'What has stood for generations should be considered thoughtfully, not removed on a whim or at the behest of a baying mob.'

Five parts of legislation and regulations, which are due to be set out on Monday, need to be changed for the results to come into effect.

The new rules, which will protect all of England's 12,000 statues, are set to apply from March. 

On January 13 councillors in Devon voted to move the statue of a British war hero after officials said it 'impacts anybody who does not define themselves in binary gender terms'. 

A council review into the continued appropriateness of the Grade 11 listed bronze statue, which depicts General Sir Redvers Buller, in Exeter, recommended it was relocated due to the army general's connection to the British Empire. 

The statue triggered public debate following the Black Lives Matter protests partly due to references to colonial campaigns on its plinth, which bears the words 'he saved Natal', that 'sought to advance British imperialist interests in other countries'.

An equality impact assessment undertaken for the review also found the statue would impact anybody who 'does not define themselves in binary gender terms'.

Councillors in Exeter voted in favour of the report's findings. It has been estimated that relocation from outside Exeter College will cost a minimum of £25,000.  

Mr Jenrick also plans to enforce new rules which will only allow the name change of a street if a 'super majority' of households on the street agrees.     

Lambeth Council has suggested that Nelson's Row may need to be re-named and Birmingham City Council has been naming new streets 'Diversity Grove' and 'Humanity Close'.

Mr Jenrick said that the country should not try to censor its past and added that doing so is 'to lie about our history'.