The daughter of Sir Nicholas Winton, the British humanitarian who organised the Czech Kindertransport operation that saved 669 children on the eve of the second world war, has called on Theresa May to remember her father’s example and “do the right thing” by reconsidering the decision to close the Dubs scheme for vulnerable refugee children.

May attended Winton’s 103rd birthday party as his local MP. His daughter Barbara has written an open letter reminding the prime minister of how she described him as an “inspiration” at his memorial service after his death aged 106 in 2015.

The letter says: “As my father’s MP I know he deeply valued the relationship he had with you towards the end of his life, and at his memorial you very generously described him as ‘an enduring example of the difference that good people can make even in the darkest of times’ and said: ‘I hope that his life will serve as an inspiration for us all … and encourage us to do the right thing.’

“As the world once again teeters on the edge of dark times, I ask you to remember those words.”

Barbara Winton, whose father became known as “the British Oskar Schindler”, said that the scenes taking place across the continent today were reminiscent of those her father witnessed in 1939 as war was breaking out.



“There are obviously a lot of children who are alone in various camps all over Europe who are trying to survive the cold weather and wondering what their future will be,” Winton said. “My father went into refugee camps in Czechoslovakia and saw people surviving in the snow and cold and wondering what their future would be. I know we can’t take in every unaccompanied child in Europe, but I suppose there was a sense when the government accepted the Dubs amendment that they would make a bigger contribution than they have.”

It is estimated there are 6,000 people around the world alive today because of Nicholas Winton’s rescue. One of the children saved by the English stockbrocker was Alfred Dubs, who went on to become a Labour peer and who proposed the amendment to the Immigration Act 2016 to offer unaccompanied refugee children safe passage to Britain.



Lord Dubs has launched a petition calling on May not to abandon the scheme named after him. The petition states: “Our country has a proud tradition of welcoming those most in need. We stepped up to rescue 10,000 Jewish children from Nazi persecution. I myself arrived in the UK by the Kindertransport. Now more than ever we must stand by our values. Thousands of children we promised to help are still in danger. Britain is better than this. Sign to keep the Dubs Scheme alive.”



By Thursday afternoon, the petition had been signed by more than 29,000 people.

Barbara Winton said her father would have been sad about the news of the Dubs scheme’s closure. May and her father were at opposing ends of the political spectrum, she said, “but that didn’t stop them having some enjoyable conversations and agreeing on certain issues and disagreeing on others. They respected each other. I’m sure if my father was around, if he had the opportunity to meet her he would be reminding her that compassion was important, that ethics in public life was important, and that compromise was important.

“And she would reply to him when she met him: ‘I haven’t forgotten, Nicky, compromise.’ So I think a good compromise now would be to up the number of children we take in, to at least the amount that was originally accepted. That would be in the spirit of my father.”

When the first group of child refugees arrived in Britain in October, before the closure of the Calais camp, rightwing tabloids ran pictures of some of them and suggested they were adults. The backbench Tory MP David Davies called for dental x-rays to be used to check ages, ignoring the fact photographers are not supposed to take pictures of minors without the consent of a guardian.

Winton said: “I’m sure the intention was finding the oldest possible ones and using them as an exemplar of what’s going on. Hopefully it doesn’t need more pictures of children who are in deep distress to provide some compassion. There are young children out there who are living in extremely difficult situations. If you had a 10-year-old or a 12-year-old or even a 16-year-old child, wouldn’t you hope that someone would help them in need? When does compassion end?”

She urged anyone concerned about the news to “get involved” with charities and people doing work on the ground. “Don’t sit there wringing your hands. My father had 5,000 children on his list to rescue and he managed to save 669. In his scheme of things he failed, but on the other hand there are 669 children who were saved and about 6,000 people alive today because he did that.

“He was the kind of person who, once he made up his mind that something was right and needed doing, wasn’t going to be put off. He was only 29 at the time, but nevertheless had that kind of stubborn certainty. He found likeminded people, got them on board, and between them they moved mountains.”