Boris Johnson says threat to Winston Churchill threat ‘shameful’

Far right protesters have come out to defend Churchill’s statue, as Boris Johnson slams attempts to erase history as ‘absurd’.

Police officers stand in front of the Winston Churchill statue during a rally last week in Parliament Square, London. Picture: AP

Boris Johnson said it was “absurd and shameful” that the statue of Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square was at risk of vandalism and warned: “We cannot edit or censor the past.”

The prime minister said that statues “teach us about our past, with all its faults” and that tearing them down would mean lying about the nation’s history.

He urged people to stay away from protests this weekend and hit out at “indiscriminate” acts of violence, describing them as “intolerable” and “abhorrent”.

He intervened as the Churchill statue and the Cenotaph in Whitehall were boarded up amid concerns that they could be targeted by protesters this weekend.

Members of far right groups gather around to guard the boarded-up statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square in central London on Saturday.

Black Lives Matter called off a protest in London planned for Saturday amid concerns it would be targeted by the far right, members of which turned up to guard the boarded-up Churchill statue. However, localised protests took place in London, along with rallies elsewhere in Britain.

In a broadcast interview Mr Johnson said: “We should not support a protest, which in all probability looking at what has happened before, is going to end in deliberate and calculated violence.”

He had earlier defended the statute of Sir Winston in a series of messages on Twitter. He said: “The statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square is a permanent reminder of his achievement in saving this country – and the whole of Europe – from a fascist and racist tyranny.

“It is absurd and shameful that this national monument should today (Saturday) be at risk of attack by violent protesters. Yes, he sometimes expressed opinions that were and are unacceptable to us today (Saturday), but he was a hero, and he fully deserves his memorial.”

He said that Britain “cannot pretend to have a different history”, adding: “We cannot now try to edit or censor our past. We cannot pretend to have a different history. The statues in our cities and towns were put up by previous generations. We all understand the legitimate feelings of outrage at what happened in Minnesota and the legitimate desire to protest against discrimination.

A group gathers around the Churchill statue. Picture: Getty

“Whatever progress this country has made in fighting racism – and it has been huge – we all recognise that there is much more work to do.

“The only responsible course of action is to stay away from these protests.”

The prime minister’s intervention came amid a wave of attacks on historical landmarks across the country.

A plaque commemorating Captain Thomas Phillips, a slave ship captain, was stolen from a wall on Captain’s Walk in Brecon, mid-Wales, where it was installed ten years ago. It was taken after a history group highlighted how the plaque made no direct reference to his role in the transatlantic slave trade. More than 300 slaves died on his ship, the Hannibal, during one voyage.

Brecon town council had said that the memorial was “under review” but it was stolen before it could make a decision.

In Liverpool Street signs on Penny Lane, made famous by the Beatles, were defaced with the word “racist” amid claims the road was named after James Penny, a slave ship owner and prominent anti-abolitionist.

Joe Anderson, the city’s mayor, said there was no evidence for the claim but Liverpool’s International Slavery Museum includes Penny Lane in its display of street names linked to slavery.

A “degrading” statue of a kneeling black man has been removed from the grounds of a stately home owned by the National Trust.

The figure at the front of Dunham Massey Hall in Altrincham, Manchester, depicts a life-size male holding a sundial above his head and wearing a feathered skirt. It had “caused upset and distress”, according to the National Trust.

The monument, which had been sited at the front of the Grade I listed hall, was created by the 18th-century sculptor Andrew Carpenter as part of a series representing the continents.

It has been under review after a member of the public posted on the site’s Facebook page, asking whether in light of “recent events … you are taking the same initiative as London by reviewing your offensive statues in National Trust spaces”.

A spokesman for the trust said yesterday (Friday): “The statue has caused upset and distress because of the way it depicts a black person and because of its prominence at the front of the house.

“We don’t want to censor or deny the way colonial histories are woven into the fabric of our buildings.

“For these reasons, we have decided to move it safely from its previous location while we make plans to address it in a way that fully acknowledges the appalling histories of slavery and the slave trade.”

The Times