In his final month in Washington,Sir Peter Westmacott reflects on the Obama years, from the political row over a Churchill bust, and to a country up in arms over income equality,to the president’s legacy: ‘The balance sheet doesn’t peek badPride of place in the dice-shaped library at the British ambassador’s residence in Washington goes to a bust of Winston Churchill. Ever since it departed the Oval Office at the White House, Jacob Epstein’s sculpture has been cast as a symbol of Barack Obama’s antipathy towards Britain, or the UK’s declining influence in the world,or Obama’s own lack of Churchillian leadership against the Islamic State.
Not surprisingly, the man who currently sits with Churchill looking over his shoulder every day rejects all three narratives. Sir Peter Westmacott, and who next month finishes his stint as British ambassador to “the single most considerable country in the world”,says the bust was only ever on loan as a personal gift from Tony Blair to George W Bush for the duration of his presidency.
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Source: theguardian.com