Margaret Thatcher branded ‘contemporary villain’ alongside Bin Laden and Hitler in V&A exhibition
London’s Victoria and Albert Museum is facing criticism over exhibiton that puts former prime minister in same light as dictator and terrorist
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher was described as a “contemporary villain” alongside Osama Bin Laden and Adolf Hitler in an exhibition at the V&A.
The Victoria and Albert Museum in London named the late Mrs Thatcher alongside the terrorist and the dictator to illustrate unpopular public figures portrayed by Punch and Judy over the years.
The V&A said it would review the text and update the wording “if necessary” and that it welcomes all feedback from visitors.
The exhibit, which shows two puppets made in 1975, appeared to explain how Punch and Judy caricatures have changed over the last century.
The description read: “Over the years, the evil character in this seaside puppet show has shifted from the Devil to unpopular public figures including Adolf Hitler, Margaret Thatcher and Osama bin Laden, to offer contemporary villains.”
A puppet of Baroness Thatcher from the satirical television show Spitting Image is also included in the comedy exhibition at the London institution.
The publicly-funded museum has faced angry backlash from Conservative MPs, who described the comparison as “ill-thought” and “mendacious”.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: “Given the fact that MPs are now regularly receiving death threats, myself included, from extremists and others, this V&A exhibition is ill-thought and mendacious,’ he said.
“They must live in a bubble, away from the real world, to think that it is rational to propose that a politician of the stature of Margaret Thatcher would equate to any of those mass murderers and vile human beings.”
Nile Gardiner, a former aide to Baroness Thatcher and director of The Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Centre for Freedom, said: “Disgraceful from the Victoria and Albert Museum. It should be stripped of public funding.”
According to 2022-2023 figures, the museum received most of its income, more than £67million, from the taxpayer via the Department of Culture.
In 2015 the V&A was widely criticised for refusing to accept a selection of her suits and handbags.
Her family offered hundreds of items, from her wedding dress to her red prime ministerial dispatch box, because they wanted them kept together on public display rather than auctioned off and scattered across the world.
But, according to reports, the museum “politely declined”, saying it collected only items of ‘outstanding aesthetic or technical quality’ rather than those with “intrinsic social historical value”.
A V&A spokesperson told The Independent: “The V&A is always open to feedback from our visitors. In response to some concerns around a caption in the Punch and Judy case of our Laughing Matters display – telling the story of British satire and comedy – we will review the relevant label text and update the wording if necessary.”
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments