Sunak urges British buyer to save Churchill’s funeral barge for the nation
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Rishi Sunak has urged a British buyer to come forward and save the barge that carried Sir Winston Churchill’s coffin from being sold overseas.
The Havengore could be bought by an international bidder after nobody from Britain came forward.
The coffin of the wartime prime minister was carried on the barge along the River Thames to Waterloo Station on his final journey after his funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral in 1965.
Campaigners and public figures including Boris Johnson have called for the barge to be saved for the nation. He said the Havengore was “part of the history of our country”.
Asked whether Mr Sunak would step in to save it, his official spokesman said: “When it comes to preserving our heritage, the Prime Minister strongly believes these remarkable British heroes like Churchill should remain in our public spaces.
“He remains hopeful the vessel can remain in Britain, where it has so much history. Obviously, we will keep a close eye on the progress of the sale and remain hopeful that a UK buyer can be found.”
Mr Sunak’s spokesman added that all bids go through the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, which would have the power to block such a sale.
Chris Ryland, who has owned the Havengore since 2005, has been aiming to sell it for the past 18 months and has lowered its price from £2 million to £800,000. He had bought it for £780,000.
A notable sight on the Thames, the barge is available to be chartered by guests and has been named as a National Historic Ships regional flagship winner.
In 2015, thousands of people lined the banks of the Thames as the Havengore re-created its voyage of 50 years before with members of the Churchill family on board. It was the Port of London Authority’s flagship from 1956 until the early 1990s.
The intervention by Mr Sunak comes after mounting political pressure to safeguard the Havengore from a foreign sale.
Anthony Tucker-Jones, a military historian who has written a Churchill biography, told the Mail on Sunday a national museum should intervene to safeguard the Havengore.
“I think it would be good if someone like the Imperial War Museum [was] to take it over and display it on the Thames next to HMS Belfast,” he said. “It is part of our heritage and it does have historic significance.”
