Vandals have defaced the statue of Winston Churchill in Woodford Green days before Remembrance Sunday.
A symbol in red paint was been scrawled on the base of the monument, in High Road, but it has since been cleaned.
Cllr Richard Hoskins condemned the act of “mindless vandalism”.
He added: “I utterly condemn it.
“It used to be defaced on a regular basis about 30 years ago but it hasn’t happened for ages.”
The statue of the renowned wartime prime minister stands at the centre of the constituency Churchill represented from 1924 to 1964.
A Redbridge Police spokesman said they had not received any reports of criminal damage to the statue but would send an officer to the scene.
Redbridge Council’s area committee two had already budgeted for restoration work to the statue, which dates from 1959.
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