Any Thoughts on Mr Churchill, Prime Minister? Published December 30th, 2020 - 01:06 GMT
The statue of Winston Churchill stands in front of the Palace of Westminster the day after the Brexit decision (Shutterstock)
Highlights
His opinion piece from The Daily Telegraph, written in 1995, was among cuttings on the planned purchase which landed on prime minister John Major s desk.
Boris Johnson once criticised proposals to buy the private papers of Sir Winston Churchill.
Mr Johnson, then a newspaper commentator, opposed the use of public money to purchase for the nation the war-time leader s diaries from his grandson, also called Winston.
We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.
Just as the 1995 Conservative government was about to oversee millions of pounds of public money being spent acquiring the wartime diaries of Sir Winston Churchill, a dissenting voice urged against lining the pockets of the former prime minister’s estate.
The commentator? A newspaper columnist named Boris Johnson.
Cuttings from The Daily Telegraph landing on John Major’s desk included an opinion piece written by the future Churchill biographer-turned-prime minister in which he lamented proposals to hand over National Lottery money to keep the private papers in the UK.
Mr Johnson, who would later be in a position to keep prime ministerial diaries of his own, wrote: “Maybe the nation’s lottery punters, two thirds of the adult population, would have mourned if their collected stakes had not found their way into the pockets of Winston Churchill, MP and socialite, who will receive £12.5 million to keep the papers in this country.”
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Sledge and sledge flag from Shackleton s British Antarctic Expedition acquired for the nation
Sledge Flag from Shackleton s British Antarctic Expedition. Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON
.- The National Maritime Museum and the Scott Polar Research Institute have acquired the sledge and sledging flag that Dr Eric Marshall (1879-1963) used on the British Antarctic Expedition (BAE) of 1907-1909 one of the most important expeditions in British polar history.
NHMF safeguards nationally important heritage at risk of loss, establishing a UK wide collection of outstanding heritage over the past 40 years. The sledge and sledging flag are the two most recent treasures supported by the Fund, with a grant of £204,700, to mark its 40th anniversary, and symbolise the remarkable achievements of these explorers. They join significant items from other polar explorations that have been saved for the nation including: