NO 10 has made clear Theresa May’s admiration for Sir Winston Churchill after Labour’s John McDonnell sparked a row by suggesting the late Prime Minister was a “villain”.

It revealed how the Prime Minister had a portrait of the wartime leader in her Downing St study.

READ MORE: Labour's John McDonnell brands Winston Churchill a 'villain' 

The Shadow Chancellor made his comment in response to a sequence of quick-fire questions in an interview with the Politico website streamed live on the internet, one of which asked: "Winston Churchill; hero or villain?" Mr McDonnell replied: "Tonypandy: villain".

This was a reference to how for some people on the Left of politics, Churchill’s reputation was tarnished for sending in troops to help police deal with striking Welsh miners when he was Home Secretary in 1910.

But the Shadow Chancellor’s terse comment sparked a row. Boris Johnson, the former Foreign Secretary – who has written a biography of the late premier - took to Twitter to vent his ire, saying: "Winston Churchill saved this country and the whole of Europe from a barbaric fascist and racist tyranny and our debt to him is incalculable.

"If John McDonnell had the slightest knowledge of history he would be aware that Churchill also had an extraordinary record as a social reformer who cared deeply for working people and their lives. JM should be utterly ashamed of his remarks and withdraw them forthwith."

Asked about the Prime Minister’s response, her spokesman said: "The British public will reach its own judgement on this characterisation of Sir Winston Churchill. I note that in 2002 he came first in a public poll of the 100 greatest Britons.

"The PM has quoted and referenced Sir Winston Churchill on many occasions and acknowledged him as one of the great prime ministers of the 20th century. She has a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill hung on the wall of her study in No 10.”

READ MORE: The simplistic errors over Winston Churchill that require to be corrected 

He added: "His strong leadership, determination and unwavering personality inspired our country through our darkest hour and helped Britain protect those values of peace and freedom that we hold so dear today."

Meanwhile, one Whitehall insider pointed to the view expressed by Clement Attlee, the former Labour leader, shortly after the death of Sir Winston in 1965 when he described him as the “greatest Englishman of our time; the greatest citizen of the world of our time”.

Lord Atlee, who served alongside Churchill in the wartime Cabinet, added in a speech in the upper chamber: “In the course of a long, long life, he has played many parts. We may all be proud to have lived with him and, above all, to have worked with him…”

Tory backbencher Sir Nicholas Soames, Sir Winston’s grandson, commenting on Mr McDonnell’s remarks, told the Daily Telegraph: "Frankly, it's a very foolish and stupid thing to say, surely said to gain publicity.

"My grandfather's reputation can withstand a publicity-seeking assault from a third-rate, Poundland Lenin. I don't think it will shake the world."

Labour’s Ian Austin voiced his disagreement by posting a picture on social media of a figurine of the wartime leader he keeps at home.

The Midlands MP said: "Look who takes pride of place on my mantelpiece in Dudley: a real British hero, the greatest ever Briton, the man who motivated Britain to defeat the Nazis and fight not just for our liberty but the world's freedom too."

Robert Halfon, the former Conservative minister, called for a Commons statement on Sir Winston's achievements, telling MPs: "Far from being a villain, Winston Churchill was not only our greatest prime minister but a wonderful social reformer and a man who defeated Nazi tyranny."

Andrea Leadsom, the Commons Leader, replied: "Someone calling Sir Winston Churchill a villain is, in effect, denigrating the achievements of a man who led this country to potentially its greatest-ever contribution to global peace and it's a great shame that he was described in this way."

The latest row over Sir Winston follows one that began last month after Ross Greer, the Green MSP, claimed the wartime leader was a "white supremacist" and a "mass murderer."

James Cleverley, the Tory Deputy Chairman, denounced his comments as “superficial and inaccurate” while TV presenter Piers Morgan branded the Scottish politician a “thick ginger turd”.

But Lord Finkelstein agreed that Churchill was a white supremacist yet described the claim he was a mass murderer as a “wild idea”.

The Conservative peer, a former adviser to several Tory party leaders, stressed how the former PM’s stand against Adolf Hitler and the defeat of Nazi Germany meant he had saved countless Jewish lives, including those of his own family.

“If it wasn’t for Sir Winston Churchill, I wouldn’t be alive,” declared Lord Finkelstein, whose mother survived the Bergen-Belsen death camp.