Corbyn activists storm 'racist' Churchill-themed cafe that 'celebrates colonialism'

Labour Party activists who stormed a Winston Churchill-themed cafe in north London over the weekend and branded the wartime prime minister a "racist" have been branded "childish" by MPs.

On Saturday (27 January), a group of protesters urged customers at Blighty UK to boycott the Finsbury Park cafe, telling them it "celebrates colonialism and a racist."

The cafe is inspired by Winston Churchill and features World War II paintings, Union flags and model Spitfire planes hanging from the ceiling. Drinks are served in Churchill-themed mugs and customers sit facing a mural that shows the former prime minister ordering an espresso.

In recent weeks, the cafe has been defaced by vandals, who sprayed the words "scum", "imperialist" and "warmonger" across the Churchill mural.

This weekend, Blighty UK was targeted again by a group of demonstrators led by Labour activist Halimo Hussein. She is said to be a staunch Jeremy Corbyn supporter and is pictured on Facebook with Russell Brand, another avid fan of the Labour leader.

The 24-year-old activist, who is a student at the School of Oriental and African Studies, led chants of "Churchill was a racist" inside the cafe and shouted: "It's our duty to fight for our freedom... we have nothing to lose but our chains."

"We cannot accept the unashamed colonial and gentrifying presence of this cafe," another demonstrator said.

Some scholars have suggested that Churchill held racist beliefs.

In 1937, he told the Palestine Royal Commission: "I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place."

Churchill believed in eugenics and racial hierarchy, according to John Charmley, the author of 'Churchill: The End of Glory.' "Churchill saw himself and Britain as being the winners in a social Darwinian hierarchy," he told the BBC.

Conservative MPs slammed the protest at the cafe.

"It is thanks to Winston Churchill that fools like these are able to hold their childish views and not be thrown into a concentration camp," Michael Fabricant, Tory MP for Lichfield, told the Mail Online. "They should think about this before the next time they behave like yobs."

"As the local MP, I hope Jeremy Corbyn will join me in condemning these actions," he added.

Tory MP Jack Lopresti also criticised the demonstration. "This outrageous behaviour represents the hard left's politics which is of the most puerile and ignorant kind," he said. "Without the bravery, courage and leadership of Sir Winston Churchill, we would not be living in a free country where we have the freedom to express our personal views, regardless of how, in their case, ridiculous or offensive they are."