Why Winston Churchill’s Popularity is Declining

For people who are unaware, Winston Churchill was the wartime political leader of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945. He was the Prime Minister in a grand coalition government comprising the major political parties.

(My behind-the-paywall link.)

Winston Churchill is becoming a forgotten figure because World War II lasted from 1939 to 1945 and is being relegated to a historical event that happened in the past.

This is because the greatest generation and their children, the Boomer generation born between 1946 and 1964, are now dying off.

With the vast majority of the war generation dead and their children, the boomers, most of them will be dead or retired within the next two decades.

This means that the Second World War is no longer as deeply attached to the British identity and that, for better or worse, we can now look back at that time without being clouded by nationalism, loyalty and affection.

This means Winston Churchill’s memory is being forgotten, and famous politicians such as U.K. prime ministers such as David Cameron and Boris Johnson are lionising Churchill himself.

This also means that the Churchillian myth has become a fixture of British national identity for a minority of the British public.

Winston Churchill has become the Joan of Arc of Great Britain in many ways.