LETTER OF THE DAY: Was Churchill a diehard racist?

I am not going to criticise the film since that would be unfair but I am going to boycott it and want to say why.

Yes, Churchill was a great leader in the time of war ... or was he?

He did make several great mistakes which led to the deaths of many British troops but the blame for many of these were taken by Chamberlain.

But irrespective of that, there were many other of his actions prior to the war and his personal views and opinions.

He supported the blanket-bombing of German cities. Today this would be regarded a crime under the War Crimes Act 1991. Not sure then.

He advocated the use of poisonous gas on tribes people of India and caused the death of more than four million men, women and children in India due to his racist policies stating: ‘There would be more food to go round if they didn’t breed so much’.

He loathed the Irish and sought ways to intimidate them saying he couldn’t understand why they refused to be English.

He assisted Zionism in Israel and was very anti-Palestinian.

He ordered the massacre of nearly 30 Greeks in 1944 even though they had fought the Nazis.

Perhaps more surprisingly is that he is believed to have donated money to support the defence of a Nazi war criminal.

He is believed to have created the saying ‘Keep England White’ and he certainly supported Mussolini and fascism. So, in conclusion, he was in favour of genocide and was as much of a racist as anyone could be.

He talked about imposing restrictions on immigration and had little time for anyone who thought differently to him.

He was, in my opinion, an embodiment of policies and views held by Ukip and Trump today – possibly even more so.

Do I want to go and see a film that glorifies someone like that? Not at all.

Michael Birchmore

Bredenbury Crescent, Paulsgrove