Fury as Churchill legacy is trashed
A FULL-THROTTLE attack on the reputation of wartime leader Winston Churchill by one of the UK’S most radical Left-wingers has triggered outrage.
Tariq Ali has fired the latest salvo in the battle over the statesman’s legacy with the publication of his book Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes.
It presents Churchill as a “racist” who “enthusiastically supported the terror bombing of civilians” and took a callous attitude to the Bengal famine. He also challenges the “Churchill cult” he claims has taken root.
However, in his review, Churchill biographer Andrew Roberts accused Mr Ali, 78, of “execrable” research and “bile and evident malice”.
Robert Oulds, director of the Bruges Group think-tank, whose founding president was Margaret Thatcher, said: “The freedom that Tariq Ali enjoys, and sometimes tries his worst to abuse, was guaranteed by Churchill’s courage, vision, and to a lesser extent his abilities as a communicator.
“Tariq Ali appears to be following a well-trodden, and perhaps commercially successful path – one of murdering, rather than learning, from the past.”
Conservative MP Michael Fabricant also saluted Churchill, saying: “When Tariq Ali saves a nation from an evil fascist regime’s invasion, he might then be qualified to comment. Until then, he can keep his opinions to himself.”
Mr Ali, however, is not worried about
the reaction, saying: “Of course Right-wing historians have gone mad but I was expecting that.”
Churchill was voted the “greatest Briton” in a 2002 BBC poll, ahead of engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Diana, Princess of Wales. However, Mr Ali claims younger people are less attached to him.
He predicts the Churchillian “cult” will wither, saying: “Many of them don’t even know who he is, really, despite the campaign in schools. Unless Britain keeps fighting wars and he keeps being built up as the all-time, all-purpose war leader, his cult will die.”
In 100 years, he hopes that Churchill will be seen as “a brutal, imperial politician”.
Justin Reash, executive director of the International Churchill Society, hit back: “[We] hold the foundational belief that his unique wartime leadership in the face of unprecedented adversity continues to be an inspiration.
“Just look to Ukraine’s President Zelensky and how he has invoked Churchill’s example to rally his country.”
Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes is published byverso.