President Barack Obama was forced to address why a bust of Winston Churchill was removed from the Oval Office when he entered the White House, assuring reporters in London that he is a big fan of the wartime leader. With his words, Obama hit back at claims by London Mayor Boris Johnson, who said in an op-ed piece that the removal of the bust could have been due to Obama’s “part-Kenyan” heritage.” Johnson brought up an old claim that first came up a few years ago and was roundly dismissed by the White House in 2012. On Friday, Obama confirmed he did play a role in having the bust removed from the Oval Office but that a Churchill bust still had a very prominent place in the White House.
“I love Winston Churchill, I love the guy,” Obama said when he was asked about Johnson’s piece. “Right outside the door of the Treaty Room, so that I see it every day, including on weekends when I’m going into that office to watch a basketball game, the primary image I see is a bust of Winston Churchill.” He insisted that the bust is there “voluntarily because I can do anything on the second floor” of the White House.
The president said that as the first African-American president he thought it was important to have a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. “to remind me of all the hard work of a lot of people who would somehow allow me to have the privilege of holding this office.”
Johnson was harshly criticized for his column that blasted Obama for calling on Britons to stay in the European Union. The London mayor is one of the strongest voices in favor of leaving the European Union. “Many people will find Boris Johnson’s loaded attack on President Obama’s sincerity deeply offensive,” former Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell said. Johnson tried to tone down the controversy saying he was “a big fan” of Obama.
One of the few who supported Johnson was Nigel Farage, the leader of the anti-E.U. U.K. Independence Party, who had said Obama should “butt out” from British politics. “Because of his grandfather and Kenya and colonialization, I think Obama has a bit of a grudge against this country,” he said. Others steered clear of the comments about Obama’s background but criticized the president’s involvement in a domestic issue. Justice Minister Dominic Raab, for example, characterized Obama’s views as irrelevant because he is a “lame duck.”
At a town hall-style event in London on Saturday, Obama urged young people to “reject pessimism and cynicism and know that progress is possible.” He also praised diplomacy, noting that “security is not just a matter of military actions but is a matter of the messages we send and the institutions that we build and the diplomacy that we engage in and the opportunities that we present to people.”
