Anger from Winston Churchill’s family as St Paul’s Cathedral taunts him as a ‘white supremacist’

St Paul’s Cathedral has caused a stir by describing Sir Winston Churchill as an ‘unaudacious imperialist’ and ‘white supremacist’ in an online post about Britain’s great war leader.

The cathedral, which hosted Sir Winston’s state funeral in 1965, only removed the highly derogatory descriptions last week after receiving complaints that they defamed a man who had been proclaimed the greatest Briton ever.

The Mail on Sunday understands that the offensive description appeared on St. Paul’s website for over a year, but it remained unclear last night who was responsible for writing it.

In an article about the state funeral, the website noted the war leader’s role in “repelling the threat of invasion and facilitating a retreat against the Nazi occupation of Europe.”

But it added: “He is also a figure of controversy, as he was an unashamed imperialist and white supremacist.”

The offensive description appeared on St. Paul’s website for over a year

St Paul’s Cathedral was the venue for Sir Winston’s state funeral in 1965. Only last week were the highly derogatory descriptions removed

Sir Winston’s grandson, Nicholas Soames, said last night that the family was upset by what he called the “deeply insulting, thoughtless, stupid and ignorant” comments.

The 75-year-old Tory colleague said his grandfather “saved England” by leading the fight against Hitler’s racist Nazi regime.

He added: ‘Even if we allow some of the more extreme views in the Church of England, this is really going too far. It was highly offensive and caused great offense to some members of my family, and protests were lodged by a number of people. I’m glad to see that the Chancellor of the Cathedral has now apologized and had the thing removed. I don’t know how it got there. It’s the kind of thing that’s so thoughtless, stupid, and ignorant and hurts the image of the Church so much. It’s such a horrible thing to say.’

Lee Anderson, Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, said: ‘It’s getting ridiculous. Anyone who publishes this kind of information should take a good look at themselves and ask themselves why they hate this country, its history and its heritage so much. They’re idiots.’

Sir Winston’s offensive description was amended on Friday to read: “He is also a figure of controversy, especially from a modern perspective.”

The cathedral sprang into action after receiving a complaint from Nick Gent, 72, a member of the Friends of St Paul’s. In his letter last month, he wrote: “I believe that some of the language you have used in Churchill’s profile is overly loaded, judgmental to the point of demonizing Churchill. Perhaps this language is a function of ignorance or of political ideology.’ He accepted that Churchill often made himself a “hostage to fortune” with remarks and jokes that today would be considered unacceptable.

But he said it was important to judge the man by his performance in Hitler’s defeat.

Sir Winston’s grandson, Nicholas Soames, said last night that the family was upset by what he called the “deeply insulting, thoughtless, stupid and ignorant” comments. Sir Nicholas is pictured at Royal Ascot on July 27, 2019

Then Prime Minister Winston Churchill is pictured with Queen Elizabeth II at the Commonwealth Economic Conference at Buckingham Palace on 3 December 1952

In an email to Mr Gent on Thursday, Chancellor Dr Paula Gooder wrote: ‘We agree that the tone does not match the rest of the page or pages on the website. We’ve removed the sentence and hope the paragraph now feels more balanced and appropriate in this context.”

Mr Gent said: ‘Churchill was such a great humanitarian who transcended politics. He should be a role model for the young people.’

Historian Andrew Roberts said: ‘It is excellent that St Paul’s have dropped their ultra-awake attitude. The cathedral was the center of the world at Churchill’s funeral in 1965, and their original ill-chosen words detracted from that. Since pretty much everything from the past is controversial, especially from a modern perspective; their new formulation is pleasantly pointless.’

Lady Antonia Fraser, historian and author said: ‘There is much more to be said about Churchill and that he was a wonderful man. He is regularly voted best Englishman and that is where he remains as far as I’m concerned.’

Frank Furedi, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Kent, said: “To brand Churchill as an unashamed imperialist and white supremacist is not only a historical distortion, but an attempt to embellish all the positives Britain stood for in the 20th century. to discredit.’

A spokesman for St Paul’s said: ‘The information on our website regarding Winston Churchill’s state funeral has recently been updated. It was brought to our attention that some of the text in the description was inconsistent with the tone of the rest of the page.

“So we reworded the paragraph to make the description more balanced and more contextual.”