Winston Churchill’s family yesterday successfully dodged £9 million in tax by “gifting” the nation a series of amateurish paintings by the former PM.

The family offered the 37 works in lieu of a whopping £9,404,990 inheritance tax bill that followed the death of the politician’s last surviving child, Lady Soames, last year.

And in a episode of supreme biscuit-taking, all but two of the paintings will remain at the family pad in Kent.

The former PM, a bitter opponent of Indian independence and the establishment of the welfare state, produced more than 500 paintings in his lifetime.

“It is fitting that in the 50th year since his death these paintings by the great wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill will be displayed in three very significant locations that helped shape his life and gives us an opportunity to appreciate the artistic talent of a man who was a colossal figure in world politics,” culture minister Ed Vaizey fawned.