Backlash over removal of Churchill's name from charity's website formed in his memory

A charity formed in memory of former prime minister Winston Churchill has attracted backlash when it removed the images of the leader from its website and changed its name.

The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust removed pictures of the wartime leader from its website and changed its name to the Churchill Fellowship. Though the charity later reinstated his photograph, it said that the name change stands, reported The Daily Mail.

Adding weight to the issue, the prime minister's spokesman on Thursday (9) has urged the trust to rethink.

"It's completely absurd, misguided and wrong to airbrush his giant achievements and service to this country and the trust should think again," the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, the trust said that it believes the old name was 'confusing' and claim the change is not linked to his role in Britain's imperial history or an attempt to 'disown' him.

According to the report, trustees agreed to change its name to the Churchill Fellowship.

Churchill's grandson Nicholas Soames backed the charity and said: "The Churchill family is wholly and unreservedly supportive of the wonderful work done by the Churchill Fellowship. Its record speaks for itself."

Tory former leader Iain Duncan Smith, termed the action as "ridiculous".

"What we are left with here is another group of individuals who fail to recognise the most important thing Churchill said to us, which is that those who sit in judgement of the past will lose the future. Without him they would not be sat where they are making these ridiculous decisions," he told The Mail.

The new website has a page stating that the charity 'stands in solidarity with those in the fight against racism and with our Fellows from minoritised racial communities'.

"Today there is controversy about aspects of Sir Winston’s life. Many of his views on race are widely seen as unacceptable today, a view that we share," the Trust said.

Left-wing activists have gunned for Churchill for years, accusing him of racism, highlighting his links to Britain's colonial past and even comparing him to Adolf Hitler. His statue in Parliament Square was also defaced during London's BLM protests.

The charity, which funds academic research and whose chairman is Sir Winston's own grandson Jeremy Soames, was set up using mainly public donations after his death in 1965.

It is still funded by donations and legacies from wills, but the majority of its income comes from investments built up with the cash given by thousands of people who loved and supported him when the charity was set up 56 years ago.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who wrote a well-received biography of Churchill in 2014, previously said it was the 'height of lunacy' to accuse the politician of racism.