HUNDREDS of people attended the unveiling of a Tom Murphy’s statue of William Gladstone.

The bust of the Merseyside-born Prime Minister was unveiled at Our Lady Star Of The Sea church, in Seaforth, on Saturday after a long campaign by historian Brenda Murray, 89.

The 6ft £25,000 monument’s pedestal and engraving was by Crosby Memorials’ John Smith.

Unveiling the statue, Birkenhead MP Frank Field, described it as “one of the most staggering days” of his political career.

He said: “There was such an excitement and buzz there all because of the huge drive and vision of Brenda Murray. I was amazed by how many people turned up – it was packed.”

Gladstone, the only man to be prime minister four times, lived in Seaforth from 1813 to 1830.

Mrs Murray, who received a British Empire Medal for services to heritage and history, said she hoped the statue would mark Seaforth as a tourist attraction.

She said: “A lot of people will come to see this. This is not the end of our campaign. We want everybody to love Seaforth and appreciate it produced such a successful prime minister.”

Mr Murphy said: “Brenda Murphy is like Gladstone - intelligent, dynamic and very determined. What I wanted was everyone to see his great intelligence.

“What is exciting as a sculptor is you are the last link to that dead person – the bit before the full stop providing a life after death.”

His next work will be relief panels dedicated to the Liverpool “Pals” at Lime Street station.