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Liverpool legend and former Celtic manager John Barnes has branded Winston Churchill a "white supremacist and a mass murderer" as he defended Liam Neeson over his "racist" comments.

Barnes let rip on Sky News earlier today after he was asked about Irish actor Neeson's controversial comments which sparked uproar on Monday.

Neeson was accused of being a racist after he gave an interview revealing he once stalked the streets armed with a cosh as he looked for a "black b*****s" to kill after a friend was raped.

Neeson said he was "ashamed" by his "awful" behaviour during an interview about his new film, The Cold Pursuit.

(Image: Sky News)

Barnes was asked for his opinion on Neeson's comments and claimed the story had been taken out of context.

And as the 55-year-old defended Neeson, he hit out at former Tory Prime Minister Churchill.

Barnes said: "Let’s take down that statue of Wintson Churchill, who is a white supremacist and a mass murderer.

"When Liam Neeson comes out and admits he was wrong in what he did, while Winston Churchill would never admit he was wrong, never.

"If he was still alive he would still believe in the superiority of the Aryan race but Liam Neeson who admits after a week and a half of thinking what he thought, he was wrong. Which is fine, as I am concerned."

Barnes' outburst comes after Piers Morgan argued with Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer who took to Twitter to call Churchill a "white supremacist and a mass murderer" last week.

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

Greer posted the comments on social media which led to a fierce debate online and the MSP appearing on Good Morning Britain to have it out with the outspoken host.

Conservative leader Churchill was voted the “greatest Briton” of all time in a television poll in 2002 in which he was championed by former Labour MP Mo Mowlam.

But while Churchill is feted as a great wartime leader and for standing up to and defeating the Nazis, he is not universally admired.

The Tory chief was hated in parts of south Wales due to his treatment of striking miners in 1910 when as Home Secretary he sent in soldiers to deal with the workers.

And Churchill held controversial views on race. In 1937, he gave a speech to the Palestine Royal Commission where he said: "I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place."

(Image: ITV)

He also looked down on India's great leader Mahatma Gandhi. In 1931 Churchill said: "It is alarming and nauseating to see Mr Gandhi, a seditious Middle Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir… striding half-naked up the steps of the Vice-regal Palace."

And many in India blame Churchill for the famine that hit the north-eastern region of Bengal in 1943 which saw around three million people die as the then British Prime Minister insisted that rice was exported to help the war effort despite so many people starving on the subcontinent.