Overview
- The 40‑minute video by artist Helen Cammock, titled Persistence and commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery in 2023, has been on display since September 2025 and will remain open until 2 August 2026.
- In mid‑June 2026 the film drew formal complaints and a letter from historian Lord Andrew Roberts that was countersigned by over 50 members of the House of Lords, including Churchill’s grandson Lord Nicholas Soames, who called the accusation a 'barefaced lie'.
- The gallery has replied that the work is the artist’s personal reflection, that it supports freedom of artistic expression, and that it does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in commissioned pieces.
- Scholars and commentators are split over the Bengal famine’s causes: a 2019 study cited by critics described the disaster as a British policy failure, while defenders note wartime constraints and point to records of Churchill directing relief efforts and extra shipping where possible.
- The dispute highlights wider tensions over taxpayer funding, how museums present colonial history and the use of contemporary political parallels in art, and it could prompt further formal reviews or public demands for institutional explanation.