Lesson plans shared by thousands of teachers also suggest he made lame, drunken speeches and was less important to British history than Sir Bob Geldof. In the run up to VE Day, campaigners say Britain’s wartime leader is being “demonised by education zealots” who are “brainwashing” pupils. They have been outraged by a lesson plan entitled Winston Churchill: Hero Or War Criminal?” on the website of the global education company Tes.

The lesson contains a potted history of the career of what it calls “an intensely controversial figure”.

Pupils are then asked to write their own essays based on “14 different modern day views” and decide if Churchill was a hero or “villain/failure” or “war criminal”.

They are told: “Churchill is considered by many to be the greatest Briton.

“But his legacy did not always look so secure.

“The impact of the wartime speeches of Winston Churchill has been vastly overstated and they were poorly received by many.”

Churchill is accused of racism and the lesson plan also reminds pupils: “Churchill was to pay the price for the bloody failure of the Dardanelles battle in 1915.

“It was Winston Churchill who argued that the battle was a good idea to the War Council and so he was held responsible for its failure.”

Campaign for Real Education chairman Chris McGovern said the lesson plan was part of a campaign to destroy Churchill’s reputation in the classroom.

The lesson plan on Churchill states: “He was responsible for such things as the disaster at Gallipoli, the callous treatment of exploited workers in the General Strike and a failed attempt to spark off the Third World War against Soviet Russia.”

A Tes British Values and VE Day education pack of famous figures who best represent “Britishness” does not mention Churchill at all.

Instead, pupils are presented with Irish-born Sir Bob, fellow singer Zayn Malik, boxers Anthony Joshua and Nicola Adams.

Mr McGovern said: “They are brainwashing kids and finding any excuse to trash our past and our national identity.

“It is an extraordinary and pitiful situation that we have planned strategy by education zealots to demonise Churchill.

“We should have enormous pride in a man who was beacon of hope in the war and not judge him by today political correctness.

“The world will find it beyond belief the term ‘war criminal’ is being applied to him. It is outrageous and despicable.”

The lesson plans are uploaded by individual teachers to the Tes website. The education company states in its terms and conditions that it is not responsible for the content.

It says “all User-Uploaded Content is the sole responsibility of the person from which such content originated.

“We accept no responsibility for, and do not guarantee, the accuracy, integrity or quality of any User-Uploaded Content.”

But the company does monitor content and reserves the right to remove objectionable material.

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