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Why a group of Tory MPs cleaned the Churchill statue
Published 10:55 9 Jun 2020 BST
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'If you think Churchill is racist, wait 'til you hear about the other guy'
This sentence is one which is the go-to response to those who rightly point out that former prime minister Winston Churchill was a racist. Few people, if any, deny that Churchill was a racist - his words are there for all to see - but the idea seems to be that the human brain only has enough space to condemn one racist at a time. The death of George Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests and marches around the world have led to discussions and re-examinations of figures that Britain has placed on a pedestal. Literally. In recent days, a statue commemorating slave trader Edward Colston was torn down in Bristol and chucked into a nearby river. Meanwhile, the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square was sprayed with the words 'Was A Racist'. JOE spoke to a group of Tory MPs who helped clean the statue and who say that if protesters write on the statue again, they'll be back out to clean it again. https://twitter.com/PoliticsJOE_UK/status/1270044485087571969?s=20Explore more on these topics:
