Churchill Replaced With a Badger?! Britain Scorns Its Heritage

By Richard Palmer • March 11, 2026

Great figures from British history like Winston Churchill and Jane Austen will be removed from British banknotes and replaced by pictures of native British wildlife, such as badgers and otters. It’s part of a raft of changes announced over the last day that break with British tradition.

For years the Bank of England has taken a “woke” approach to who it puts on banknotes. Elizabeth Fry appeared on the £5 note for 15 years, even though almost nobody in Britain has heard of her.

Now though, the nation finds it so hard to find common ground over who should be celebrated that the bank is dispensing with historical figures altogether.

Britain is rapidly dismantling its own history in several ways:

A bill to remove jury trials for those expected to receive a sentence of less than three years passed its first vote yesterday, 304 to 203. The right to jury trials is enshrined in the Magna Carta and has been an important safeguard against tyranny and abuse. In several high-profile cases of people accused of speech crimes, the jury has thrown out the case. Many suspect this plays a role in the current government’s desire to eliminate juries.
The government launched its digital ID yesterday. Being forced to carry identity papers has long been associated with tyranny in the UK. Unlike the U.S., it is not a legal requirement to carry your driver’s license when driving, for example. Plans to force a digital ID scheme were scrapped last year after a massive public backlash. Now they’ll be “voluntary.” But covid-19 showed that the government can make it very difficult to live without complying with “voluntary” requirements.
A peer kicking the last of the hereditary peers out of the House of Lords passed its final hurdle yesterday. The House of Lords has little actual power these days—mostly it can send something back to Parliament for more consideration if it thinks a law is poorly thought through. Most lords today are appointed, not hereditary. There’s a lot to debate about Britain’s House of Lords, but this is an important break with Britain’s history.

Jury trials and aversion to IDs are not in the Bible, but they are related to biblical principles. Much of British heritage points back to its history with God. That is what is really under attack. To learn more, read our article “The Inspiring History Britain Should Never Forget.”