British establishment may abandon Winston Churchill statue
As anti-racism activists continue to target symbols and icons of Britain’s past and present, there are signs the British establishment is about to give in to one of the protestors’ key demands.
Following repeated targeting of the Winston Churchill statue, the war time leader’s granddaughter has said the monument may eventually have to be put in a “museum”.
Talking to the BBC Radio 4’s Today program, Emma Soames said she was “shocked” to see the statue in London’s Parliament Square sealed in steel in order to protect it from acts of vandalism by irate protesters.
The Black Lives matter movement – which is part of a broader anti-racism current sweeping the UK - regards Churchill as one of the worst racists and imperialists of the 20th century.
Protesters have repeatedly called for the statue to be removed thus forcing the police to board it up.
Not surprisingly Soames disputed the anti-racist movement’s assessment of her grandfather, instead calling him a “complex man” who was considered a “hero by millions”.
But in a remarkable act of retreat Soames conceded that if people were “so infuriated” by seeing the statue it may be “safer” in a museum.
However, in a sign her softening position is opposed by other descendants of Churchill, the former Prime Minister’s grandson, Sir Nicholas Soames, said he was “deeply upset” after the statue was vandalized and boarded up.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph (June 12), Soames claimed the defacing of his grandfather’s statue shows that Britain has “lost its compass”.
"I find it extraordinary that millions and millions of people all over the world who look up to Britain will be astonished that a statue of Churchill and the Cenotaph, our national war memorial, could have been defaced in this disgusting way", Soames added.
The removal of the Churchill statue (if indeed it happens) will be a major psychological blow to the British establishment and its supporters.
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