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British Museum won't remove controversial objects but will ‘contextualise them’ instead, following government funding threat

 The bust of Sir Hans Sloane at the British Museum. The bust has been moved from a plinth and placed in a cabinet with contextual notes about slavery - Julian Simmonds 
The bust of Sir Hans Sloane at the British Museum. The bust has been moved from a plinth and placed in a cabinet with contextual notes about slavery - Julian Simmonds

The British Museum has said it will not remove controversial objects from display but will “contextualise” them instead, following a government funding threat.

In a leaked letter, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said that Government-funded museums and galleries risk losing taxpayer support if they remove artefacts.

The missive, sent to several institutions, said: "As publicly funded bodies, you should not be taking actions motivated by activism or politics.

"The significant support that you receive from the taxpayer is an acknowledgement of the important cultural role you play for the entire country."

Recipients included the British Museum, Tate galleries, Imperial War museums, National Portrait Gallery, National Museums Liverpool, the Royal Armouries, the Science Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the British Library.

The British Museum has responded in a statement in which it said it has “no intention of removing controversial objects from public display”.

"Instead, it will seek where appropriate to contextualise or reinterpret them in a way that enables the public to learn about them in their entirety."

The museum recently redisplayed its bust of Hans Sloane, its slave-owning founding father.

The bust was juxtaposed with objects to reflect the fact that Sloane's collection was created in the context of the British Empire and the slave economy.

The Museum said it "continues to acknowledge Sloane's radical vision of universal free public access to a national museum collection and the public benefit that is generated through the British Museum".

The culture secretary’s letter, leaked to The Sunday Telegraph, said: "It is imperative that you continue to act impartially, in line with your publicly funded status, and not in a way that brings this into question.

"This is especially important as we enter a challenging Comprehensive Spending Review, in which all government spending will rightly be scrutinised."

The letter stated that "rather than erasing these objects, we should seek to contextualise or reinterpret them in a way that enables the public to learn about them in their entirety, however challenging this may be".

The letter comes after well-known music venue, named after 17th century slave trader Edward Colston, was recently renamed Bristol Beacon.

On Thursday, Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg criticised the National Trust for not realising "how wonderful" Winston Churchill was.

The National Trust had revealed how 93 of the properties it looks after, including Winston Churchill's home Chartwell, have links to historic slavery and colonialism.

Boris Johnson has expressed his dismay at the growing focus on removing statues in the wake of the toppling of the memorial to slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol.