London Socialist Historians Group
Media Release 6th October
Contact Dr Keith Flett 07803 167266
Historians take issue with Boris Johnson’s Tory conference speech
The London Socialist Historians Group, a network of research historians that organises the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, has taken issue with Boris Johnson’s speech to the Conservative conference in Manchester.
Johnson said that he was
“minded to ignore” those who claim Winston Churchill was a racist
“But as time has gone by it has become evident that this isn’t just a joke they really do want to re-write our national story,” “We really are at risk of a cancel culture know-nothing iconoclasm.”.
He went on to argue that Tories would defend “our history… not because we are proud of everything but because trying to edit it now is as dishonest as a celebrity trying furtively to change his entry in Wikipedia.”
The historians say that Johnson’s view of British history is a very partial one, determined to play down the impact of colonialism and the slave trade. The reality is that racism was part of Churchill’s worldview and that is well documented, although there is much else that can also be said historically about him, and Johnson amongst others has done so.
Boris Johnson who did not mention that October is Black History Month has struck entirely the wrong note about British history.
LSHG Convenor Dr Keith Flett said, it is Boris Johnson who wants to cancel the bits of British history he finds inconvenient. Socialist historians are in favour of telling the whole story, and there is a good deal of research still required to do that, including the real history of black and ethnic minority people in Britain stretching back at least to the Tudors
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