Restore Trust

The rise of Restore Trust, a political organisation opposing the National Trust’s efforts to recount the full history of its properties, highlights a troubling resistance to confronting Britain’s colonial and exploitative past. 

Under the guise of protecting “traditional values,” Restore Trust seeks to sanitise history, framing the National Trust’s inclusion of slavery and colonialism in property narratives as “woke ideology” or “virtue signalling.”

 

Restore Trust claims that discussing colonial links and slavery detracts from heritage enjoyment. In reality, its agenda aims to erase uncomfortable truths, replacing them with a narrow, uncritical celebration of grandeur and empire. This selective memory ignores growing public interest in understanding history’s complexities and risks alienating diverse audiences.

Despite portraying itself as a grassroots movement, Restore Trust has been linked to significant funding from undisclosed donors, raising questions about its transparency and true motivations. Reports have connected the group to right-wing think tanks based in Tufton Street (a bit like the Taxpayer's Alliance, which is not an alliance and represents only those wealthy individuals wishing to avoid tax completely), known for their influence on Conservative policies. This association suggests that Restore Trust's campaigns may be part of a broader political agenda aimed at resisting progressive narratives in cultural institutions.

A German equivalent of Restore Trust would face widespread condemnation for attempting to downplay Nazi atrocities. Post-WWII Germany is internationally recognised for its honest reckoning with its past, integrating Holocaust education and memorialisation into public life as a moral imperative. Far from diminishing national identity, this transparency fosters accountability and ensures past mistakes are not repeated.

Restore Trust’s campaign does not preserve history—it distorts it, suggesting that some chapters of Britain’s story are less worthy of remembrance. This approach undermines efforts to build a shared understanding of the past and its impact on present inequalities.

History is not diminished by honesty. The National Trust’s approach, which integrates colonial and slavery narratives into the stories of its properties, enriches our understanding of heritage. Restore Trust’s attempts to whitewash the past, by contrast, reflect a nostalgia for a version of history that never truly existed. Confronting the darker chapters of our past, as Germany has shown, strengthens national integrity and ensures that future generations learn, reflect, and grow.