Boris Johnson attacks 'dubious' campaign to 'photoshop' Britain's history
Boris Johnson has warned that Britain cannot “photoshop” its long and complicated cultural history and that to do so would be a “distortion” of our past, amid the ongoing row over the removal of public monuments.
Writing for The Telegraph, the Prime Minister promises to fight “with every breath in his body” any attempt to remove the statue of Winston Churchill from Parliament Square.
Mr Johnson acknowledges Britain has much more to do to tackle the issue of racism and has pledged to set up a cross-government commission to examine inequality.
But he also launches a passionate defence of “one of the country’s greatest ever leaders”, declaring it the “height of lunacy” to accuse Churchill of racism. “I will resist with every breath in my body any attempt to remove that statue from Parliament Square, and the sooner his protective shielding comes off the better,” he writes.
The Prime Minister continues: “It is not just that it is wrong to destroy public property by violence. I am also extremely dubious about the growing campaign to edit or photoshop the entire cultural landscape.
“If we start purging the record and removing the images of all but those whose attitudes conform to our own, we are engaged in a great lie, a distortion of our history – like some public figure furtively trying to make themselves look better by editing their own Wikipedia entry.”
The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities will look at racial and ethnic inequalities in Britain. Its remit will look at “all aspects of inequality – in employment, in health outcomes, in academic and all other walks of life”, the Prime Minister writes today.
The Telegraph understands the commission will report directly to Mr Johnson and also be overseen by Kemi Badenoch, the equalities minister. An independent chair will be appointed to oversee a commission of people “with a mix of ethnic, social and professional backgrounds”, a source said last night.
It will look at inequality across the UK, not just that affecting the BAME community, the source said, adding that the commission would be tasked with producing recommendations for the Government by the end of this year.
Commenting on the weekend’s protests, Mr Johnson says: “It was utterly absurd that a load of far-Right thugs and bovver boys converged on London with a mission to protect the statue of Winston Churchill.” The Metropolitan Police said 23 police officers were injured on Saturday, with 113 people arrested. A 28-year-old man has been charged for allegedly urinating on the memorial to Pc Keith Palmer, who was stabbed to death in the 2017 Westminster attack.
Mr Johnson says: “It was right that a good number should have been arrested. They were violent. They were aggressive towards the police. They were patently racist. There is nothing that can excuse their behaviour.”
On Sunday, protests continued, with police averting a clash in Glasgow over a statue of Sir Robert Peel.
The Prime Minister says the Government needs to “tackle the substance of the problem, not the symbols”.
“Rather than tear down the past, why not add some of the men and women – most often BAME – who helped to make our modern Commonwealth and our modern world?”
He also calls for children to be taught about the “context” of Churchill’s actions.
He writes: “Yes, Churchill expressed all sorts of views over his immense career – and bear in mind that he entered parliament under Queen Victoria and left it under Queen Elizabeth – which are totally unacceptable to modern ears. As it happens, he generally changed [his view] with the times.
We need to address the present, not attempt to rewrite the past – and that means we cannot and must not get sucked into never-ending debate about which well-known historical figure is sufficiently pure or politically correct to remain in public view.”
