Banksy’s new goat artwork keeps people guessing

The goat image is the street artist’s first work revealed since a high-profile stunt at Glastonbury in July.

He created a dinghy filled with dummies in reference to the small boats migrants have used to cross the Channel, with the craft carried by the crowd during a performance by the Bristol-based band Idles.

The band has sung in support of immigration in the past, with their song Danny Nedelko containing the lyrics “My blood brother is an immigrant/A beautiful immigrant/My blood brother’s Freddie Mercury/A Nigerian mother of three”.

James Cleverly, the then home secretary, criticised the stunt at the time, saying: “There are a bunch of people that are joking and celebrating about criminal actions which cost lives.

“People die in the Mediterranean, they die on the Channel. This is not funny. It is vile. This is a celebration of the loss of life in the Channel.

“Something like that, I think, is deeply distasteful. I mean children die in the Channel because of the actions of these vile criminals and joking about it and celebrating, I think it is completely unacceptable.”