Description of Winston Churchill as 'white supremacist' disappears from St Paul’s Cathedral website

St Paul's Cathedral edited a section of its website which described wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill as an 'unashamed imperialist' and 'white supremacist'.

The biography caused a backlash after appearing on a section about state funerals hosted at the famous London landmark.

The post described how Churchill led the country through "incredibly challenging times" during the Second World War "fending off the threat of invasion and enabling a fight back against the Nazi occupation of Europe, in alliance with America and the Soviet Union".

The paragraph continued: "He is also a figure of controversy, as he was an unashamed imperialist and white supremacist – views which were challenged even in his own lifetime."

The section has since been updated to read: "He is also a figure of controversy, especially when viewed from a modern perspective."

Speaking to the Mail on Sunday Sir Winston Churchill's grandson, Nicholas Soames, said the description was "deeply offensive, thoughtless, stupid and ignorant".

A spokesperson for St Paul's told ITV News: "Information on our website regarding the state funeral of Winston Churchill was recently updated after it was brought to our attention, by a member of the Friends of St Paul’s, that part of the text within the description was not consistent with the tone of the rest of the page.

We have therefore reworded the paragraph with the aim of making the description more balanced and appropriate in its context."

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