The Mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, met with the ‘Colston 4’ and even added his signature alongside theirs on a t-shirt donated by Banksy, Bristol Live can reveal.
The curious meeting, the circumstances of how it happened and the fall-out afterwards can now be revealed for the first time.
It involves negotiations between Banksy and the Mayor, claims of a secret art project in Bristol, and the animosity between the four people cleared of criminal damage in the case of the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston, and the Mayor who they say played a part in prosecuting them.
Read more: Silence from Bristol's Labour MPs on the 'Colston 4' verdict
The meeting took place in the Star and Garter pub in Montpelier around a fortnight after the four were cleared of criminal damage in a verdict that resonated around the world.
But strangely, the Colston 4, their family and friends who were present at the time, and the Mayor’s office, deny that they knew about the meeting before it happened - leading to the conclusion from many involved that Banksy set up the meeting himself, and effectively ambushed both parties together one night in Montpelier.
There are differing accounts of how the meeting went, but it ended with the Mayor of Bristol adding his signature to one of the Banksy t-shirts that had already been signed by the Colston 4, and with plans for the four activists going to City Hall for a more formal, but still secret, meeting with Mr Rees.
Some of the group with the Colston 4 have told Bristol Live they had no clue that they would be meeting the Mayor of Bristol.
“None of us had any idea what was going to happen. Banksy got in touch and said he’d get some t-shirts dropped round to us and we should go to the Star and Garter at a particular time and day, so we thought that was really great, and we were grateful to him for his support,” said one of the group there that night, who declined to be named.
“So we went along, and were there a while, and then this woman who we know is one of Banksy’s representatives came into the pub and said hi, and handed out all these t-shirts, and then she walked back out again, and then came back in almost straight away with Marvin Rees.
“They went across the pub and sat on the other side, and it was just really strange. He carried himself like he knew we would be in there. He did not look surprised at all. The way it played out was almost theatrical, like it was choreographed as a piece of performance. It just looked like a massive set up,” they added.
For around ten minutes or more, none of the Colston 4’s group went over to speak to the Mayor, but then the father of one of the Colston 4 did so, and the rest soon followed.
In the aftermath of the acquittal of the Colston 4, the Mayor of Bristol had described them as carrying out ‘performance activism’, described them as ‘four white guys’, and said while he was ‘surprised’ at the verdict which cleared them of the criminal damage his council complained to the police about, he ‘didn’t have much of a reaction’.
For the recently-acquitted Colston 4 and their families and friends, the involvement of the Mayor of Bristol in their case was something they took the opportunity to raise with him in person, when they were presented with the chance to.
“We had written to him very soon after it was obvious the four were going to be prosecuted and not offered a caution like the others,” they said. “We wanted to see if he’d meet us but he said it wouldn’t be appropriate given the legal proceedings.
“And then, after all that and the trial, he was coming over all friendly in the pub, and at the time we were thinking ‘no, wait, it was you and your council that put in the official complaint of criminal damage, and you sent a senior council officer to be a witness for the prosecution - and now you want to be our friend?’” they added.
The t-shirts
In the run-up to their trial, Jake Skuse, Rhian Graham, Milo Ponsford and Sage Willoughby were at the centre of a huge campaign to raise funds and support as they faced the prospect of appearing at crown court.
Elusive street artist Banksy joined the campaign, creating a limited edition t-shirt that was sold in a small number of independent shops in Bristol on one day in December with money going towards the Colston 4.
The t-shirts initially sold for £30 each, but some were quickly advertised online for sale for up to £1,000 each, such was the global interest in them.
Around two weeks after a jury found the Colston 4 not guilty, Banksy sent a message to each of the Colston 4, telling them that he’d have a representative of his drop some of those t-shirts to them at the Star and Garter pub
Another present in the Montpelier pub that evening said Mr Rees was only too happy to sign one of the t-shirts. “One of the t-shirts got signed on the table by each of the four, and the Mayor was saying ‘oh do you want me to sign it too?’ and he picked up the pen and just signed it. These t-shirts are supposed to be worth a few quid, but that one must be priceless now,” they joked.
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What does the Mayor’s Office say?
The fact a meeting took place was first mentioned in passing in a New Statesman article earlier this month, with the commentary that ‘it didn’t go well’.
That wasn’t the view from the Mayor’s Office. A spokesperson from the Mayor’s Office told Bristol Live initially that the fact Marvin Rees met with the Colston 4 in the Star and Garter was ‘complete coincidence’.
“Marvin was invited to the Star and Garter for a meeting (that was) totally unconnected to the Colston 4,” he said. “As far as we are concerned, the meeting was a total coincidence and it was a friendly conversation.
“The coincidental meeting at the Star and Garter was not an arranged meeting and the mayor had no idea the four protestors would be present when he went there for a separate and unconnected meeting. Having met, there was a brief positive discussion and arranging a meeting was discussed but one of the four wrote later to say they didn’t want to meet. The mayor made no formal invitation to them nor did he ask for a meeting,” he added.
After the meeting, one of the Colston 4 wrote to Mr Rees turning down the offer of a meeting at City Hall.
The email, seen by Bristol Live, said: “It seems there are some agendas I’m unaware of being that you happened to be in the pub with Banksy’s rep when all four of us were there. This inherently makes me uncomfortable and doesn’t inspire me to form any sort of coalition with you.
“Finally, after talking with my legal team about your view of the council having only provided a ‘statement of fact’ to aid our prosecution, it appears that is factually inaccurate. The appearance of Jon Finch in the court as a witness for the prosecution is by definition not a statement of fact. Had we have been found guilty, I’m sure there would be no meetings in the pub and one of us may have been serving a prison sentence. So in solidarity with my community and in favour of honesty, I would prefer not to meet with you,” they added.
Banksy’s involvement
The Colston 4 and their friends and family said they didn’t know the Mayor was coming to the pub, and the Mayor’s Office also maintains he didn’t know they would be in there, which implies that, potentially, Banksy was behind the impromptu get-together.
The Mayor’s Office declined to comment when asked why Marvin Rees was meeting a representative of Banksy, but did confirm it wasn’t the first time Banksy’s people and people from the Mayor’s Office had met.
Bristol Live understands speculation is rife in Bristol’s underground street art scene that the elusive street artist - now living back in the West Country - is potentially working on a new work of art for Bristol. One of the recommendations of the Mayor’s We Are Bristol History Commission was to turn the empty plinth of the statue of Edward Colston into a venue for temporary art installations.
In early April, Bristol’s cabinet voted to accept the commission’s recommendations, including a pledge to consider that idea. Many within the scene say they think either Banksy approached the Mayor or the other way around, to discuss the possibility of the first of those temporary artworks being by Banksy.
Bristol Live approached Banksy with a list of questions about the meeting at the Star and Garter, and about any plans for art installations in Bristol, and is yet to receive a reply.
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