President-elect Donald Trump is asking for Winston Churchill’s bust back in a move that is sure to score points with London. President Obama removed the WWII hero’s bust and replaced it with a bust of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. upon assuming office in 2009. At the time, many questioned why Obama simply couldn’t move Churchill’s bust or place MLK’s bust elsewhere.
“Some speculate, including conservative documentary filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza, that Obama removed the bust because he has a hatred of American and British imperialism, which dominated the world in the early 20th century,” explains The Blaze. “[British Foreign Minister Boris] Johnson has made similar accusations, even going so far as to say that Obama had the bust removed because of his “ancestral dislike of the British Empire.”
The bust was originally presented to President George W. Bush in 2001 by an English envoy.
But in an apparent effort to smooth over eight years of tensions with UK ruling-party conservatives and nationalist affiliates, Trump’s transition team is asking for the bust back from Britain’s top diplomat.
During a meeting in New York City with Johnson over the weekend, Trump’s right-hand men Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon placed a request for the bust back from England.
London has already stated that it plans on complying with the request.
“The Prime Minister is happy to loan the Churchill bust to the White House and will be delighted to view it on display when she visits this Spring,” a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May told the Sun.
According to The Blaze, “The idea of bringing back the bust was originally announced by former British political leader Nigel Farage in November when he met with the president-elect at Trump Tower.”
Farage is an ideological fellow traveler with Trump. The pro-Brexit nationalist-minded UKIP party head was one of the first foreign leaders to visit Trump on the eve of his victory over rival Hillary Clinton.