Donald Trump has pledged to return Winston Churchill's bust to the Oval Office when he becomes president next year, according to reports.
The British wartime leader's statue had occupied a prominent position in the White House until President Biden removed it in 2021, replacing it with a bust of civil rights leader Cesar Chavez.
The move marked one of several changes Biden made to the Oval Office decor upon taking office.
However, President-elect Trump has vowed to restore Churchill's bust when he returns to the White House next January.
“Donald idolises Churchill and believes he’s the greatest leader the world has ever seen… He will restore him to a position of honour,” a source told the Mail.
The statue was made by English modernist sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein and given in 1965 to president Lyndon B Johnson.
Obama removed the bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office. @realDonaldTrump returned it. Biden removed it again.
— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) September 4, 2024
Tells you all you need to know about Biden and Obama. pic.twitter.com/0w4IPXrRGF
It has already caused some kerfuffle, having previously been banished by president Barack Obama after he took office in 2008.
Boris Johnson wrote in 2016 that “the part-Kenyan president’s ancestral dislike of the British empire” might have inspired the move.
However, when Johnson was prime minister in 2021, No 10 said: “The Oval Office is the president’s private office, and it’s up to the president to decorate it as he wishes. We’re in no doubt about the importance President Biden places on the UK-US relationship, and the prime minister looks forward to having that close relationship with him.”
Mr Trump has referred to Mr Johnson as “Britain Trump” and the two men share an admiration for Sir Winston, who governed from 1940 to 45 and then from 1951 to 55.
Following Mr Obama’s tenure, Mr Trump has once already put the bust of Mr Churchill back into the Oval Office and now looks set to once more.
The president-elect’s British cheerleader in chief Nigel Farage this week likened his friend to Sir Winston, both politicians having now lost office only to make a comeback.
Former Conservative MP Rory Stewart said: “I’m delighted that the bust of Winston Churchill is going back into the Oval Office.
“Whatever we all think of Donald Trump and I am - to put it mildly - no fan,it’s very important for Britain that we retain a positive relationship with the President of the United States.”
