Newt wants Churchill in White House

Newt Gingrich, the former speaker, is not for prevarication and so his response to a direct question from The Independent last night was yes and immediately. Or at least upon his being inaugurated as President.

No surprise since the subject was one of his heroes, Winston Churchill, and the matter of his bust having been returned to the British Embassy in washington by  Barack Obama after he took office. Would he seek to have it put back in the Oval Office?

"Of course," he told us smiling broadly after speaking to an energy conference here. "On the first day if the Embassy will yield it up to us".

Mr Gingrich seems a long way from becoming president or even winning the nomination of his party. But that's why he hasn't been shy likening himself to the British Prime Minister who was largely  shunned by his own party and peers before rising to be the nation's greatest wartime leader. If Winston is his inspiration now no wonder Mr Gingrich would like to have him close should he ever get to the White House.