The British Museum doesn’t need a slavery gallery

The British Museum is beginning to think about the possibility of embarking on a massive programme of refurbishment, repairs and the reorganisation of its galleries, now that the building is showing its age. At the same time, many groups would like to use this opportunity to change the very character of the museum.

One such group is The World Reimagined. Its co-founder Michelle Gayle takes the view that this is a chance for the British Museum ‘to look its past in the eye’. She has the active support of Jolyon Maugham’s Good Law Project, which embraces a whole catalogue of campaigns about issues such as puberty blockers and keeping GB News ‘in check’. It too wants to reimagine the world from a stridently far-left perspective. 

It is no surprise, then, that the particular issue they insist the British Museum needs to address is the history of British involvement in the Atlantic slave trade.