Tories hit out at 'Britain-hating' after Elizabethan hero Sir Francis Drake is ... trends now
Elizabethan hero Sir Francis Drake has become the latest historical figure added to Parliament's 'crazy' roll-call of links to the slave trade.
Sir Francis played a major role in preventing the country being conquered by the Spanish in the 16th Century, and was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe in one trip.
A favourite of Elizabeth I, he claimed California for England in 1579.
However, artworks featuring the renowned sailor and commander have now been added to a controversial list of connections to slavery.
The move emerged in the latest update to a review of the Parliamentary collection, launched around four years ago in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
The cross-party committee that oversees art at Westminster says it is wrong to 'venerate people who have supported and committed acts of atrocity'.
But critics insisted it is 'daft' to maintain a list purely based on slavery, which was prevalent around the world, rather than presenting individuals in their wider historical context. They also pointed out that many of those listed had extremely tenuous links to slavery.
Bizarrely, renowned thinker Edmund Burke is listed on both the pro and anti-slavery list. And the Speaker's State Coach is included because it is believed to feature a carving of a slave from Roman times.
Sir Francis Drake helped prevent the country being conquered by the Spanish, and was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe in one trip
Critics insisted it is 'daft' for Parliament to maintain a list purely based on slavery, which was prevalent around the world, rather than presenting individuals in their wider historical context
The cross-party committee that oversees art at Westminster says it is wrong to 'venerate people who have supported and committed acts of atrocity'
Ex-PM Robert Peel - known as the founder of the modern police service - was a noted opponent of slavery and his family were not owners. But he has been tagged because his father made money from cotton-spinning. Pictured is a bust by Matthew Noble flagged in the Parliamentary review
Dozens more items have been tagged as featuring people linked to slavery or representations of it in the latest update, taking the total to around 400.
Sir Francis Drake was born in around 1540 and died at sea near Panama in 1596.
Some historians believe he was a crewman on voyages to West Africa in the 1560s with his cousin John Hawkins, where men and women were captured for slavery. He is also said to have raided Portuguese slave ships.
Drake has typically been remembered as a scourge of the Spanish, who were also heavily involved in slavery. They nicknamed him 'El Draque' - the Dragon.
In 1577 he embarked on a mission to circumnavigate the globe and terrorise Spanish shipping, returning around three years later laden with treasure. Queen Elizabeth came aboard his flagship, the Golden Hind, to bestow a knighthood on him.
Drake was responsible for a bold attack on Cadiz harbour in 1587 that bought England vital time to prepare for the arrival of Philip II's invading Armada.
He set sail in December with five small ships, manned by fewer than 200 men, and reached the Brazilian coast in the spring of 1578
Although he operated on behalf of Elizabeth I, Parliament has yet to designate works showing the monarch as linked to slavery.
The cross-party Speaker's Advisory Committee on Works of Art has been considering whether the labelling of the collection or how it is presented should be changed on the basis of the findings.
The committee insists it does not take a 'position' on the people who are included on the register and it is based on 'rigorous academic research'.
A spokesman said: 'As the Committee has made clear before, the publication of these documents simply helps to ensure accuracy within Parliament's collections.
'Drawing on rigorous academic research, it includes works depicting people who had financial and political interests in the slave trade, as well as those who had historical or family connections. Inclusion should not be interpreted as the Committee taking a position on the subjects or artworks .
Portraits of former PM William Ewart Gladstone, including this one, are listed as linked to slavery
This statue of Edmund Burke, an MP and renowned political thinker, has been included in the list. Burke was a critic of slavery, but his younger brother apparently speculated on Caribbean plantations
'The publication of this list is driven by a desire to better understand, explain and contextualise the Collection to as many people as possible.
'There are no plans to remove specific artworks from display or change the long-term siting of Parliament's works of art - It is not a comprehensive document and feedback on its content is always welcome.'
However, Tory MP Alex Stafford told MailOnline: 'This is absolutely crazy denigrating some of our much loved national heroes. If it wasn't for Drake we'd all be enslaved to the Spanish.'
Former Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg said it was 'an exercise in self-loathing', and questioned why Parliament was wasting resources.
He told MailOnline that the public 'don't care and aren't interested in people who hate the country and just want to complain about it'.
'It is meaningless and completely arbitrary. They put Charles II and James II on, well that's like saying Rishi Sunak is linked to illegal migration because he's PM at the time,' Sir Jacob said.
'It is just the way the world was then.
'It is the silly element of wokery. This work is not necessary... it makes Parliament look foolish.'
'Even if the people are not
