A BLUE plaque commemorating Winston Churchill has been vandalised.

The plaque in Lansdowne Road in Hove, marking the place the former Prime Minister was educated, was spotted sprayed with pink paint.

The perpetrator behind the vandalism is unknown.

The act provoked outrage on social media, with some condemning the vandalism as “utterly moronic”.

In a comment on a post on Facebook, Conservative councillor Robert Nemeth said he has alerted the plaque committee, whose chair will sort the defacement.

A council spokesman said that blue plaques are the property of the freeholder of the building they adorn and that the council is not responsible for getting the plaque cleaned.

After initially starting boarding school in Berkshire, Churchill was transferred to Miss Thomson’s Preparatory in Hove. 

He later looked back on this time with fondness and said: “At this school, I was allowed to learn things which interested me: French, history, lots of poetry by heart, and above all riding and swimming.”

Serving as Prime Minister for almost nine years, Winston Churchill is best known for his leadership during the Second World War and is widely considered one of the 20th century's most significant figures.

Although often ranked as one of the greatest prime ministers in UK history, Churchill has become an increasingly divisive figure in recent years, with criticism of his imperialist views, his government’s response to the Bengal famine - where at least two million people died, and for his comments on race.

A statue of Winston Churchill near the Houses of Parliament in London had the word “racist” spray-painted onto it during Extinction Rebellion protests in September 2020.

A mural in Russell Square, Brighton, with seven images of Churchill wearing different coloured stockings and suspenders and giving the V for victory sign, was saved from being painted over in 2020. 

After an initial protest from the council calling for the image to be altered due to a complaint about the famous hand gesture, they later reversed their decision, as the gesture was “historically authentic”.