BBC News
By Michael Race
image captionProtesters have been calling for several years for the statue to come down
The communities secretary has welcomed a decision by an Oxford University college not to remove its statue of British imperialist Cecil Rhodes.
MP Robert Jenrick said retaining the statue at Oriel College was "in keeping" with the government's policy "to protect historic monuments."
A decision to remove the statue would need final approval from Mr Jenrick.
Rhodes had been a student at Oriel and left £100,000 - about £12.5m in today's money - to the college through his will in 1902. His statue sits above a doorway on the front of the college's Rhodes Building.