Winston Churchill's statue was being freed from its protective box on Wednesday night ahead of the arrival of Emmanual Macron, the French president, in the UK, as MPs said it should never be boarded up again.

Workmen began removing boards around the monument after a Cabinet minister said a boxed-up Churchill "would not be a great look" during Mr Macron's visit.

It came as Conservative MPs called for the statue to be taken out of Sadiq Khan's control to ensure it is never boarded up again. They said the monument should be made part of the Parliamentary estate rather than left under the jurisdiction of the Mayor of London.

Mr Macron will arrive in London on Thursday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of his predecessor Charles de Gaulle's "Appel" – his BBC broadcast to occupied France following the Nazi invasion in 1940.

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