PM GOES TO WAR OVER CHURCHILL
May blasts back at McDonnell over his ‘villain’ jibe — but he STILL won’t apologise
THERESA MAY hit back at Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell last night after he refused to apologise for calling Winston Churchill a ‘villain’.
The Prime Minister, who has a portrait of Churchill on the wall of her study, hailed Britain’s wartime PM for his ‘leadership and determination’. She argued his ‘unwavering personality’ had ‘inspired our country through our darkest hour’.
Mr McDonnell had branded Sir Winston a ‘villain’ on Wednesday night and blamed him for sending troops to deal with rioting Welsh miners in Tonypandy in 1910 when he was home secretary. Mr McDonnell appeared to argue that the incident eclipsed Churchill’s World War II heroics in saving Britain — and Europe — from Nazism.
yesterday, not only did he fail to apologise, but he also insisted that he was just being ‘honest’ and that Churchill was not someone workingclass families in Britain ‘ looked up to’ even after the last war.
He also said there were ‘ other incidents in his history’ which damaged Churchill’s reputation.
The only attempt to soften his criticism — which sparked a furious backlash in Westminster — was to describe the comment as ‘a bit tongue in cheek’, and to add that he had been a ‘hero’ during World War II.
Responding yesterday morning, Mrs May’s official spokesman issued a lengthy defence of Churchill.
He said: ‘The British public will reach its own judgment on this characterisation of Sir Winston Churchill. In 2002, he came first in a public poll of the 100 greatest Britons. The Prime Minister has quoted and referenced Sir Winston Churchill on many occasions and acknowledged him as one of the great prime ministers of the 20th century.
‘She has a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill hung on the wall of her study in Number 10. His strong leadership, determination and unwavering personality inspired our country through our darkest hour and helped Britain protect those values of peace and freedom that we hold so dear today.’
Boris Johnson — the former foreign secretary and the author of a book about Churchill — urged Mr McDonnell to ‘withdraw’ the remarks. He said: ‘Winston Churchill saved this country and the whole of Europe from a barbaric fascist and racist tyranny and our debt to him is incalculable. If John McDonnell had the slightest John McDonnell: ‘Being honest’ knowledge of history he would be aware that Churchill also had an extraordinary record as a social reformer who cared deeply for working people and their lives. [He] should be utterly ashamed of his remarks and withdraw them forthwith.’
Health Secretary Matt Hancock wrote on Twitter: ‘Churchill was one of the greatest ever to have lived. Courageous, compassionate and principled. Flawed too, but human enough to admit it. Saved our country, to boot. To say he was a villain says more of the smallness of the speaker than the great man.’
Labour MPs also criticised the comments. Backbencher Gavin Shuker said: ‘I don’t think Winston Churchill is a villain. Quite grateful he was in charge when he was.’
Backsliding, Mr McDonnell told ITV that Churchill was ‘obviously a hero’ during World War II.
‘But there’s another side to Churchill in our history. Which is the side in which many working-class people at the time and well into the Forties and Fifties were angry about his behaviour. He sent the troops into Tonypandy to shoot the miners. A miner died, others were injured. It was to break a strike. In many ways for working-class families he was not someone they looked up to as a result of his actions as Home Secretary.’
And Derby MP Chris Williamson, a close ally of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, said he agreed with Mr McDonnell, adding: ‘It was people like my mum and dad that won the war, not Winston Churchill.’
Other MPs pointed to a tribute from Labour’s Clement Attlee, who served in Churchill’s wartime cabinet and followed him as Prime Minister. After Churchill died, Attlee told Parliament: ‘ We have lost the greatest Englishman of our time — I think the greatest citizen of the world of our time.’
‘He was the greatest Englishman of our time’