A former MP has declared he would prefer an image of Brussels donning British banknotes instead of Sir Winston Churchill.
The provocative claim was spurred on by the Bank of England's decision to scrap the war hero from cash and replace the former Prime Minister with images of squirrels, badgers and hedgehogs.
While King Charles will remain on the notes' front, the decision will remove historical figures including Sir Winston Churchill, Jane Austen, JMW Turner, and Alan Turing.
Mark Oaten, an ex-Liberal Democrat MP, told the People's Channel that the debate was "absolutely nonsensical" and "nobody uses cash anyway".
He added: "The second thing, just to really wind up GB News viewers, I personally would rather have the euro, so I would probably have an image of Brussels or something on there...
"But if we do have to have some image on this, then honestly, animals are as good as anything."
The decision to ditch historical figures for animals was described as "significant" and "overdue" by celebrity bird-watcher Nadeem Perera, who sits on the bank's panel of wildlife experts who will choose which English species will appear on the next set of banknotes.
The concept of choosing historical figures is "nonsense", the ex-MP blasted, proposing instead to "get rid of the King's head" on the notes as well.
"Now that really will get you going," he teased.
The war hero will be replaced by a menagerie of British wildlife
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Mr Oaten candidly added: "Look, the world has moved on from figures that are 100 years ago. We have to accept the reality a new generation - everybody - is tapping with their phones these days.
"What we need to do is to make sure that tapping is safer, that we have a system which means we can easily access our cash.
"The focus of politicians now should be on the disappearing post offices and banks in our high streets, rather than what kind of figure is on the notes in the first place."
But his view clashed with that of Robert Courts, a former Tory MP and current member of the International Churchill Society, who argued it was a "crazy, vapid decision" that many might not consider to a great extent.
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Robert Courts argued it was a 'disturbing' decision
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"Of course, you know it's true that cash is in decline. And equally, yes, Britain has great wildlife, but it's a disturbing story," he started.
"Because it tends to suggest that this is a country that's losing track of who it is. Currency has been used since Roman times to tell a story about who we are as a people, to celebrate the great heroes of the past."
"Churchill is the greatest of them, in my view, but there's very many others as well."
A public consultation, held in 2025, revealed that nature was the most popular theme for banknote imagery.
As a result, the likes of puffins and hedgehogs will be adorning the banknotes in the coming years.
The former Tory MP and Churchill fanatic also claimed Mr Oaten was "out of touch" with the cash-using public and "really like a visible symbol of what we are as a country".
"I simply repeat that he is simply missing the point," he hit out. "Currency is used as a national symbol of who we are. It tells stories about the past.
"And the person I will quote is Winston Churchill himself, who said, as one of his warnings to a young person who asked him for some advice, a country which forgets its past has no future."
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