12/03/2026
Members of the British public are up in arms about Winston Churchill being removed from banknotes. They talk about the erosion of the UK’s culture, heritage and identity, yet seem blissfully unaware of what Churchill’s views were on these matters.
Churchill was actually an advocate for establishing what he called a “United States of Europe”. The European Union itself regards him as a “founding father”.
Addressing an audience in Zurich on 19th September 1946, Churchill heaped praise on the “noble continent”, regarding it as “the home of all the great parent races of the western world”. He also raised concerns over “frightful nationalistic quarrels” which had culminated in WWII - the likes of which he claimed he never wanted to see again and sought to prevent.
His solution?
To “re-create the European Family”, to unite it “in the sharing of its common inheritance”, to “build a kind of United States of Europe.” Churchill wanted a “European group which could give a sense of enlarged patriotism and common citizenship”, a partnership between France and Germany (whom he said must take the lead together) and to “make the material strength of a single state less important.” Does this sound like the sort of thing a contemporary Churchill fanboy would advocate?
He used the promise of happiness, freedom, prosperity and safety as a means of encouraging the people of Europe to embrace this notion and warned them to act urgently if they wanted to make this dream a reality. He proposed that the first step should be to form a Council of Europe (which eventually took place in 1949) and he insisted that any resistance to the project should be fought by assembling “those who will and those who can” - essentially to outmuscle any opposition and coax them into compliance.
The European Union of the present day bares an uncanny resemblance to Churchill’s vision of a “United States of Europe”, and had he been alive to see it, he would no doubt marvel at just how far the project has come, but also despair at the UK’s exclusion. The “frightful nationalistic quarrels” which he was concerned with also display a striking similarity to the very people who invoke his memory today.
Be angry about it if you want, but get your facts straight: Churchill wanted the UK to be annexed into European identity. In his own words, he wanted to the UK to be “less important”. If you’re angry about the erosion of British culture, perhaps take a look at the destruction of one of its greatest creations, the NHS, and channel your anger towards that.
Full text on Churchill’s 1946 Zurich speech: https://rm.coe.int/16806981f3
