--- title: Obama Addresses Winston Churchill Bust Removal from Office description: He still keeps one on the second floor canonical: https://time.com/4305062/obama-churchill-bust-oval-office/ author: Dan Stewart article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-22T17:22:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:45.561Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Addresses Winston Churchill Bust Removal from Office og:description: He still keeps one on the second floor og:url: https://time.com/4305062/obama-churchill-bust-oval-office/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7c667e795f8d6e0/6988905bcf40a8e4b5c42f27/obama-david-cameron-press-conference-churchill-bust.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: BRITAIN-EU-POLITICS-US-OBAMA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Addresses Winston Churchill Bust Removal from Office twitter:description: He still keeps one on the second floor twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7c667e795f8d6e0/6988905bcf40a8e4b5c42f27/obama-david-cameron-press-conference-churchill-bust.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Explains Why He Removed Churchill Bust from Oval Office > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Queen Elizabeth II Welcomes the Obamas, Invites them for Lunch [Watch (HLS stream): Queen Elizabeth II Welcomes the Obamas, Invites them for Lunch](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ERsdOJdG.m3u8) (0:58)  _Published 2016-04-22. Queen Elizabeth II invited President Obama and the First Lady for lunch at Windsor Castle, just a day after her 90th birthday._  by [Dan Stewart](https://time.com/author/dan-stewart/)  ## Dan Stewart Apr 22, 2016 5:22 PM UTC  Barack Obama and David Cameron hold a press conference at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in central London on April, 22, 2016. Barack Obama and David Cameron hold a press conference at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in central London on April, 22, 2016. BEN STANSALLBen Stansall—AFP/Getty Images  by [Dan Stewart](https://time.com/author/dan-stewart/)  ## Dan Stewart Apr 22, 2016 5:22 PM UTC President Barack Obama finally addressed an issue that has hung over the “special relationship” between the U.S. and the United Kingdom for almost eight years — the removal of a bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office. Shortly after Obama took office he [chose to remove](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/4623148/Barack-Obama-sends-bust-of-Winston-Churchill-on-its-way-back-to-Britain.html) from the White House a bronze bust of Britain’s wartime leader placed there by his predecessor George W. Bush. At the time, some in the British media treated it as a diplomatic snub and _prima facie_ evidence of cooling relations with the U.S. The removal [briefly resurfaced](http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/27/churchill-or-bust/) in the 2012 election after Mitt Romney’s ill-fated trip to Britain. At a press conference during a visit to the U.K. on Friday, Obama confirmed that he had in fact removed the bust from the office to make way for one of Martin Luther King. “There’s only so many busts you can have before it starts looking a little cluttered in there,” he said. But the President said the White House does still feature a separate bust of Churchill outside the Treaty Room on its second floor. “I see it every day, including on weekends when I’m going into that office to watch a basketball game,” he said. “The primary image I see is a bust of Winston Churchill. It’s there voluntarily because I can do anything on the second floor.” And, with remarks that will surely warm the hearts of British diplomats in Washington, he added: “I love Winston Churchill. 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