GB News invited a Winston Churchill impersonator on GB News to mark the former prime minister’s funeral anniversary.
Churchill, who led the UK through the Second World War, was buried 57 years ago, aged 90.
But that didn’t stop the TV station’s hosts on Sunday to interview an impersonator of the ex-PM, called Stan.
Referring to Stan as Churchill, the GB News presenters said: “People say, oh gosh, if Churchill were in charge, if Churchill did that, why do you think there is still so much admiration for you?”
‘Churchill’ replied: “I think it’s probably because I was the right man at the right moment, I don’t think I could probably survive in the current climate, although I would give it a go, of course.”
“It interesting though, isn’t it, when we talk about the current climate,” one of the presenters noted.
He added: “It seems quite brutal. I mean, you yourself were pushed out after all your successes.”
“Oh, absolutely, that nice Mr Attlee managed to unseat me at the end of the war,” ‘Churchill’ noted, adding: “The war cabinet was a true cabinet government because it reflected all sorts of political opinion.”
WATCH and Reactions
The broadcast prompted a lot of reactions, with writer Mic Wright saying “this is an actual thing that happened on an actual TV channel today”.
“When a culture is seriously interviewing the stuntmen of wartime Prime Ministers cos they really miss when you could be racist without being hassled, you know it’s Extinction Event Volcano Time,” presenter Shaun Keaveny said.
LBC presenter James O’Brien also reacted to the video, saying: “On my show tomorrow: Socrates, Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte, Beethoven, Billy the Kid, Sigmund Freud, Joan of Arc and Abraham Lincoln. They *all* furiously condemn anybody still supporting Boris Johnson.”
Karen Adam, member of the Scottish Parliament, added: “The fantasies of GB news uncovered. Some things should stay behind closed doors.”
Churchill week at GB News
The broadcast comes after, only two days before, another GB News presenter discussed Churchill with a history student at The University of Oxford.
Kieran Wetherick, who is studying a bachelor’s, said: “I just wanted to make the point that it’s not just about looking at what values we hold today and thinking, you know, does Churchill really fit into that image of modern Britain?
“It’s also, you know, a historical fact that Churchill in his own time wasn’t completely celebrated even amongst his own party, even amongst other Conservative backbenchers”.
Meanwhile, current Tory prime minister Boris Johnson is facing mounting pressure over Partygate and his handling of rising living costs – which he is adding a national insurance increase to.
If a minimum of 54 Tory MPs demand Johnson to resign, the prime minister would face a vote of confidence and could lose his top job if he lost the vote.
Related: Boris Johnson set to increase UK troops in Europe to send ‘clear message’
