Minister warns against 'airbrushing' amid focus on controversial elements of Britain's culture and history
Edward Argar warns that forgetting the past "including the bad bits" will mean we "suffer the consequences and you forget".
Friday 12 June 2020 10:12, UK
There is a danger of "airbrushing" Britain's history by re-examining aspects of our culture and history, a minister has warned.
Speaking to Kay Burley@Breakfast, Edward Argar said it was right to "debate our history and debate it openly".
But he cautioned that forgetting the past "including the bad bits" would mean we "suffer the consequences and you forget".
The health minister was speaking after one of the most famous episodes of 1970s sitcom Fawlty Towers was removed from a streaming service.
The "don't mention the war" episode has been temporarily taken down from UKTV because it has "racial slurs".
It is the latest programme to be criticised for its depiction of race, following the likes of Little Britain, The Mighty Boosh and Bo Selecta.
The killing of George Floyd in police custody in the US has sparked protests around the world, including in the UK.
Black Lives Matter demonstrators have taken to the streets to highlight issues faced by black people in the UK and call for action to tackle racial injustice.
This has also prompted renewed scrutiny on parts of British culture, along with statues in public spaces of controversial figures.
According to Sky News research, eight out of 10 councils are considering the future of contentious statues in their area in response to recent protests.
Asked about the Fawlty Towers decision, Mr Argar said: "I hadn't seen that particular report about that episode, but I've seen more broadly what's been happening.
"I think we've got to be very careful.
"It's absolutely right we debate our history and debate it openly, warts and all as it were, the things that as a country we can be proud of and the things as a country we shouldn't be proud of.
"We've got to be very careful about airbrushing that history.
"Because as has been said by a number of people, if you as a country forget your past, forget your history and aren't willing to examine it, including the bad bits, you suffer the consequences and you forget."
Workers have boarded up a statue of Sir Winston Churchill and the Cenotaph in central London ahead of a weekend of possible protests.
Though the majority of protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been peaceful, statues around the country have been targeted.
Sir Winston's statue was boarded up overnight for its own protection after protesters pushed a monument of slave trader Edward Colston into Bristol Harbour on Sunday.
On Thursday evening, a tower block sign bearing the slave trader's name in the city was also removed.
A statue of slave owner Robert Milligan has also been removed from outside the Museum of London.
Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals in London have said they will remove two statues linked to slavery in response to anti-racism protests across the UK.
The NHS foundation trust which runs the hospitals said monuments of Thomas Guy and Sir Robert Clayton will be moved out of public view.
Thomas Guy, who founded Guy's hospital in the 18th century, had shares in the South Sea Company which was involved in the slave trade.
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Sir Robert Clayton, who was president of St Thomas' hospital in the 17th century, was a banker connected to the Royal African Company which shipped slaves across the Atlantic.
A statue of the Scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell in Poole has been given 24-hour protection after plans for its temporary removal were delayed.
Baden-Powell, a British Army officer who started Scouting in 1907, has been accused by critics of racism and of being a Nazi sympathiser.