Biden Snubs UK by Removing Bust of Winston Churchill from Oval Office
Decor shuffle in the Oval Office sparks outrage
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Joe Biden has moved Donald Trump's decor in the oval office, removing Winston Churchill's bust and a painting of former President Andrew Jackson.
According to the Washington Post, Biden added additional busts, including Robert F. Kennedy, Cesar Chavez, Rosa Parks, and former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
When Trump became President, he reinstated Winston Churchill's bust after former President Barack Obama removed it.
Then-Mayor of London Boris Johnson reacted to Obama's change of decoration in 2017 and called it a “snub to Britain."
"No-one was sure whether the president had himself been involved in the decision," Johnson said.
“Some said it was a snub to Britain."
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Some said it was a symbol of the part-Kenyan president's ancestral dislike of the British Empire - of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender."
Obama responded at the time Churchill's bust was in the Treaty Room, and added:
“There are only so many tables where you can put busts otherwise; it starts looking a little cluttered.”
UK PM called the new Biden administration a “fantastic thing.”
“Obviously, it’s the job of all UK prime ministers that have a close working relationship with the president of the United States and actually, when you look at what unites me and Joe Biden, there is a fantastic joint united agenda," he said, according to Sky News.
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“It’s a fantastic thing for America, for a country that’s been through a bumpy period, and for us and America, it’s a big moment, we’ve got things we want to do together, we’ve got to bounce back from Covid together."
Trump also kept the Martin Luther King Jr. bust, which Obama also left.
Biden removed the painting of Jackson, replacing it with a portrait of Benjamin Franklin.
Biden also added a large portrait of Democrat hero former President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
He also included a portrait of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson in the Oval Office.
White House staff noted they were political opponents but historical figures in the formation of the country.
Biden also removed the flags of various United States military branches, opting to display an American flag and a flag with the presidential seal.
