Eight years in the making, it aroused considerable controversy; the Field Marshal's riding position, his uniform, the horse's anatomy and its stance all drew harsh criticism.

Hardiman had won the commission in competition with his fellow sculptors Gilbert Ledward[2] and William Macmillan.

His winning model showed Haig riding a classical charger befitting a hero, derived from Hardiman's studies of renaissance equestrian sculpture.

The design went back to Cabinet and they were persuaded to allow the sculptor a free hand in executing the full-sized statue; George Lansbury wrote: "I feel confident that if your genius is unfettered you will give us a memorial worthy of the Field Marshal, the nation and yourself".

In the run-up to Remembrance Day 1998 the Daily Express attacked the memorial on its front page, asking "Why do we let this man cast a shadow over our war dead?".