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| 'I love the guy': Obama settles rumours about Winston Churchill bust | 'I love the guy': Obama settles rumours about Winston Churchill bust |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Barack Obama has explained why a bust of Winston Churchill disappeared from the Oval Office after he was accused by Boris Johnson of removing it out of hostility to British history. | Barack Obama has explained why a bust of Winston Churchill disappeared from the Oval Office after he was accused by Boris Johnson of removing it out of hostility to British history. |
| A rumour that Obama had got rid of the Churchill bust first emerged in 2012, prompting alarm about the state of the “special relationship” between the two countries. | |
| At the time, the White House published a blogpost that said the rumour was “100% false”, going on to state: “The bust still in the White House. In the Residence. Outside the Treaty Room.” | At the time, the White House published a blogpost that said the rumour was “100% false”, going on to state: “The bust still in the White House. In the Residence. Outside the Treaty Room.” |
| However, there were actually two Churchill busts – one that was on loan to president George W Bush from 2001 to 2009, which sat in the Oval Office, and a second that the White House has had since the 1960s. | However, there were actually two Churchill busts – one that was on loan to president George W Bush from 2001 to 2009, which sat in the Oval Office, and a second that the White House has had since the 1960s. |
| The White House had argued that the first bust had been removed simply because the start of Obama’s presidency coincided with the end of the bust’s loan. | The White House had argued that the first bust had been removed simply because the start of Obama’s presidency coincided with the end of the bust’s loan. |
| However, the president confirmed he did have a hand in its removal from the Oval Office, citing the lack of space and clutter in the room. As the first African-American president, he said he thought it was right to have a bust of Martin Luther King Jr “to remind him of the people who helped get him there”. | |
| But he confirmed that there was still a bust of Churchill in the White House residence outside his office, which he saw every day. | But he confirmed that there was still a bust of Churchill in the White House residence outside his office, which he saw every day. |
| “I love Winston Churchill, love the guy” he added. | “I love Winston Churchill, love the guy” he added. |