The new chairman of the National Trust has criticized the ‘woke up‘ direction and vowed not to get involved in political squabbles.
René Olivieri, who became chairman in February, has said that while we have the right to ask questions about the history of the Trust’s more than 200 buildings, “new views” cannot “obscure” other perspectives in an interview in the Country Life magazine.
Speaking to Country Life magazine, Olivieri said: ‘It’s important – as far as conservation allows – to make these buildings and their contents more interesting to more people.
This follows the Trust’s controversy in 2020 when the organization produced a report examining the links between the charity’s properties and colonialism, including links to historical slavery.
It contained a record of Sir Winston Churchill’s childhood home, Chartwell, who was Colonial Secretary from 1921 to 1922, and gave detailed information on the former Prime Minister’s opposition to India acquire independence.
A quarrel broke out with ministers with 26 MPs and two colleagues advocating a review of the organization’s funding applications.
The then chairman, Tim Parker, who held the position for seven years, stepped down, with the charity claiming he did so after going beyond his term to help the Trust through the pandemic.
René Olivieri said that while we have the right to ask questions about the history of the Trusts’ more than 200 buildings, “new views” cannot “obscure” other perspectives.
Restore Trust, an anti-wake group made up of National Trust members, is calling for the National Trust’s direction of travel to be curbed, after publishing a report in 2020 that the former home of Winston Churchill (pictured), Chartwell, has been relates to each other. in Kent, with the slave trade
In a rare interview, he has now said that while the National Trust needs to make its buildings more attractive to more people, modern perspectives should not take precedence over those of the past.
He added: ‘In addition, we all have the right to ask different questions about the past.
“However, a new view does not replace its predecessors, nor can it overshadow other perspectives.
“Each is a different thread in the tapestry of our understanding, adding color, richness and depth.”
It comes after activists are concerned about the ‘National Trust’woke upThe board demanded that an independent watchdog be established to hold the charity accountable to its members.
Restore Trust, an anti-wake-up group made up of members of the National Trust, is calling for the creation of a watchdog and the abolition of ‘discretionary voting’ by the chairman at annual meetings.
‘Discretionary voting’ allows the chairman of the National Trust to vote on behalf of members who abstain, effectively collecting hundreds or even thousands of ‘don’t know’ ballots for their desired outcome Restore trust†
The two resolutions tabled by the Restore Trust will be discussed at the National Trust’s annual meeting in October, although, even if passed, they could be rejected by the charity’s board.
Without an independent watchdog, complaints about the National Trust’s conduct will be handled by the organization’s chairman, who is not seen as independent of the board. Pictured: Polesden Lacey country house in Great Bookham, Surrey
Former National Trust chairman Tim Parker was incensed in November 2020 when he made uncritical comments about Black Lives Matter, while the trust’s current director general, Hilary McGrady, said “wokery” is a “ridiculous term”. Pictured: Ickworth House, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Without an independent watchdog, complaints about the National Trust’s conduct will be handled by the organization’s chairman, who is not seen as independent of the board.
Former National Trust chairman Tim Parker got into hot water with anti-woke campaigners in November 2020 when he described Black Lives Matter as a “human rights movement with no partisan ties” in a letter to a member.
However, critics point out that Black Lives Matter has called on the British government to “unburden the police” and has decided to “disrupt the nuclear family structure prescribed by the West” on a since-deleted page on their website.
Tim Parker stepped down in May 2021 after seven years as chairman of the National Trust.
Over the next three months, Restore Trust will host a series of events across National Trust properties – including at Houghton Hall in Norfolk and Shilstone House in Devon – with sympathetic historians invited to advocate for the slowing down of the increasingly ‘awakened’ charitable organization . ‘ direction of travel.
The trust was cleared last year of violating the charity law after a report detailed links between 93 of its properties and historic slavery and colonialism.
Winston Churchill’s former home, Chartwell, in Kent, was among the properties on the list because the prime minister once held the post of Secretary of State for the Colonies during wartime.
Former National Trust boss Tim Parker got into hot water with anti-woke campaigners in November 2020 when he described Black Lives Matter as a “human rights movement with no partisan ties” in a letter to a member
“It’s such a ridiculous term, wakery. No one has yet defined what they mean by awake,” Hilary McGrady, the National Trust’s new director general, said in May 2022.
Following complaints, the Charity Commission opened a case to investigate critics’ concerns, but concluded in January this year that the National Trust had acted in accordance with its charitable goals and that there were no grounds for regulatory action against it.
In 2017, 350 unpaid National Trust assistants at the Norfolk mansion Felbrigg Hall were told to wear gay pride badges and lanyards or else be removed from front-of-house duties, leading to a relapse and the dismissal of 75 volunteers and the cancellation of 240 memberships.
The Director-General of the National Trust, Hilary McGrady, said in May that she had received “death threats” from people angry at her management of British heritage sites.
Hilary McGrady said the charity “embodies what many people consider to be Britain’s heyday,” and that “anything that vaguely pointed to that” would upset them.
McGrady said in May, “It’s such a ridiculous term, wakery. No one has yet defined what they mean by awake.
“I’m interested in bringing nature, beauty and history to the nation, and I don’t even know what ‘woke’ means in that context.”