![\"Bridget](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bridget-phillipson.jpg\")
<\/p>\nGovernment officials urged the Bank of England to replace Winston Churchill with LGBT+ and ethnic-minority figures on British currency, according to newly emerged correspondence.<\/p>\n
The Office for Equality and Opportunity, a Cabinet Office division headed by Bridget Phillipson as minister for women and equalities, wrote to the Bank’s chief cashier during last summer’s consultation period, it has been revealed.<\/p>\n
Civil servants argued that the high-profile Britons currently appearing on banknotes presented an “incomplete picture of national identity”.<\/p>\n
“Historical figures can powerfully anchor public memory, but have historically reflected limited dimensions of British identity,” the letter stated.<\/p>\n
Officials pushed for “greater representation of women, disabled people, ethnic minority communities and LGBT+ individuals,” arguing this “would send a strong signal of progress and recognition.”<\/p>\n
The disclosure has sparked a political row, with Alex Burghart, the shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, accusing ministers of working behind the scenes to remove iconic figures from currency.<\/p>\n
“Labour tried to deny any involvement in the cancellation of Winston Churchill and other British heroes. But government officials have been caught red-handed conspiring with the Bank of England to remove them from our banknotes,” Mr Burghart said.<\/p>\n
He added: “Banknotes should feature the greatest Britons the historic figures that unite our country. They shouldn’t be chosen on the basis of Labour’s equality laws.”<\/p>\n
Bridget Phillipson’s Office for Equality and Opportunity wrote to the Bank’s chief cashier during last summer’s consultation period<\/p>\n
| GETTY<\/p>\n
Ministers dismissed the collusion allegations, insisting that civil servants participated in the consultation through standard procedures.<\/p>\n
A Government spokesman noted that an identical approach was taken during the 2013 banknote review under the previous administration.<\/p>\n
The Cabinet Office correspondence also proposed that future banknote designs could highlight “historically under-represented groups whose contributions to the UK have been overlooked.”<\/p>\n
Civil servants suggested exploring themes around social reform, civic action and education, while considering which imagery would connect with communities throughout Britain.<\/p>\n
Among the specific recommendations was HMT Empire Windrush, the vessel that transported some of the earliest Caribbean migrants to Britain following the Second World War.<\/p>\n
Officials described the ship as having “become synonymous and symbolic of the Windrush generation as a whole.”<\/p>\n
They argued that featuring it on currency “could provide homage to an entire generation and their contributions, rather than one specific person.”<\/p>\n
![\"five](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/five-pound-banknote.jpg\")
Winston Churchill will be removed from banknotes after consultation <\/p>\n
| GETTY<\/p>\n
The suggestion follows Transport for London’s 2024 decision to rename London Overground routes, including lines honouring the Suffragette movement and Windrush generation.<\/p>\n
The Bank of England has maintained that its decision to abandon historical figures stemmed from public consultation findings, showing majority support for nature-themed designs.<\/p>\n
In March, the Bank ended more than fifty years of tradition by announcing wildlife would replace historic figures on future notes.<\/p>\n
Officials also justified the change partly on security grounds, arguing that counterfeiters are becoming increasingly skilled at replicating human faces.<\/p>\n
Last month, the Bank launched a public vote on 18 native British species that could appear on the next generation of \u00a35, \u00a310, \u00a320 and \u00a350 notes, with options spanning mammals, birds, amphibians, insects and fish.<\/p>\n
That poll concluded last week, with Governor Andrew Bailey set to make the final selection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Government officials urged the Bank of England to replace Winston Churchill with LGBT+ and ethnic-minority figures on British…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":688674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,229,2331,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-688673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-sgg","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}