Nadine Dorries grants list status to Cecil Rhodes plaque at Oxford University

Nadine Dorries granted list status to a plaque memorial to British imperialist Cecil Rhodes at a college at Oxford University.

The plaque is adjacent to the statue of Rhodes at Oriel College, where thousands of Rhodes Must Fall activists have protested for the statue to be removed due to a businessman's views on colonialism and race.

Historic England has previously said the plaque does not deserve legal protection because it lacked the "richness of detail" to make it of national interest.

But the culture secretary said she felt the plaque was of "particular historical interest".

A prot "Rhodes must fall" ester outside Oriel College

(Getty Images)

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'We are committed to conserving and explaining our heritage so that people can examine all parts of Britain's history and understand our shared past,' a Department of Culture spokesman told Media and Sport (DCMS).

Rhodes, a 19th century merchant and politician in Southern Africa, was a student at Oriel and left the university £100,000 (£12.5m today ) when he died in 1902.

A staunch supporter of British imperialism, Rhodes founded Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and Zambia) and the diamond mining company De Beers . His policies as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony are considered to have paved the way for apartheid.

Scholars and experts in colonial history have accused the government of "whitewashing" the severity of the colonialism and deliberately stoking culture wars as a result of the decision.

The statue of Cecil Rhodes in front of the Oriel College

(Associated Press)

Kim Wagner, professor of imperial history at Queen Mary University of London, told The Guardian:< /em>"That's just what one would expect from Nadine Dorries and a discredited government, which has nothing left to do but pursue its inept culture war scheme.

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"Cecil Rhodes has become a rallying point for imperialists, and the 'hold back and explain' slogan is just part of the ongoing effort to whitewash his legacy and that of the empire more generally. Fortunately, most of us don't get our history from statues or plaques. .jpg?quality=75&width=230&auto=webp" alt="Johnson "extremely confident" the Commonwealth Games will leave a legacy" height="56" width="82" layout="responsive" class="i-amphtml- layout-responsive i-amphtml-layout-size-defined" i-amphtml-layout="responsive"/>John...