On the 13th September 2016 the new £5 bank note featuring a portrait of Winston Churchill, issued by the Bank of England, went in to circulation.

In determining which character would feature on the note, the Bank of England's policy stated that "banknotes are designed to be universally used and accepted, so the Bank will seek to avoid individuals who would be unduly divisive." We believe that the selection of Churchill is unduly divisive and the Bank of England should seek to replace the chosen character immediately.

Once describing Indians as “a beastly people with a beastly religion”, Churchill made no secret of his deep contempt for them. Churchill lamented that Gandhi was not among those who perished in the Bengal Famine of 1943, in which 3 million Indians died and the cause of which many historians attribute responsibility directly to Churchill.

This was a man who spoke of his strong favour for the use of ”poisoned gas” to terrorise what he saw as the “uncivilised tribes” of India and the Middle East. As a long-time supporter of chemical weapons, he also wanted to use them against the Bolsheviks in Russia.

In 1937, he told the Palestine Royal Commission: "I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place." Churchill saw himself and the white population of Britain as belonging to a superior race.

Churchill was ruthless and unflinching in his suppression of any uprisings against British rule. In Afghanistan he described how ”every tribesman caught was speared or cut down at once”. In Kenya, a land he believed should be "the preserve of white settlers" he oversaw the use of concentration camps, mutilation, rape and castration. He plundered Iran of its national resources, and oversaw the massacre of protesters in Greece. 

In his article 'Zionism vs Bolshevism' he wrote 'This movement among the Jews is not new. From the days of Spartacus-Weishaupt to those of Karl Marx, and down to Trotsky (Russia), Bela Kun (Hungary), Rosa Luxembourg (Germany), and Emma Goldman (United States)... this worldwide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilisation and for the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development, of envious malevolence, and impossible equality, has been steadily growing'. Churchill viewed Jewish people as having a historic envious malevolence towards Europeans. 

Many major news sources have written about Churchill's 'controversy' including

BBC: The 10 greatest controversies of Winston Churchill's career http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29701767

Guardian: “The Churchill you didn't know” https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2002/nov/28/features11.g21

Independent: “Not his finest hour: The dark side of Winston Churchill” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/not-his-finest-hour-the-dark-side-of-winston-churchill-2118317.html

Washington Post: "The dark side of Winston Churchill’s legacy no one should forget" https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/02/03/the-dark-side-of-winston-churchills-legacy-no-one-should-forget/

Mark Carney, in your explanation for selecting Churchill you quote Churchill in stating that "a nation that forgets its past has no future". The future of England does not share the same vision as that of Churchill. We do not consider Indians to be beastly people, nor celebrate famine, nor promote the use of chemical weapons on civilian populations, nor believe that any land should be the preserve of white settlers. The selection of Churchill on the £5 fails to reflect the values that England holds today, will not be universally accepted and will encourage division and controversy. 

We therefore urge the Bank of England to replace Winston Churchill on the £5 bank note with immediate effect.