By GABRIEL MILLARD-CLOTHIER, POLITICAL REPORTER and BRENDAN CARLIN
Books with graphic illustrations of naked adults and advising 'willies aren't silly' are on display at a top museum's children's reading room.
Parents are furious, with one branding a book at Young V&A in Bethnal Green, East London, 'a useful tool for paedos to groom children'.
It is part of the internationally-renowned V&A museums group chaired by Keir Starmer's chief economic adviser Minouche Shafik and run by former Labour MP Sir Tristram Hunt, put forward for his knighthood by Sir Keir this month.
One picture book, displayed at the front of a reading room used by small children, was entitled It Isn't Rude To Be Nude and had a drawing of a naked man sprawled across the opening two pages.
Other pages were littered with pictures of nude adults and their genitalia, with one carrying the caption 'willies aren't silly' accompanied by drawings of penises on men and women. Emblazoned on its cover is the label 'contains nakedness - and that's OK!'
On Saturday, one parent visiting Young V&A said: 'Kids should not tolerate grown men in the nude around them. I was shocked to see it on display at a museum aimed at young kids.
'An essential part of safeguarding is to alert parents or teachers when strangers even discuss the subject of intimate areas, never mind actually showing them to kids, and here is this book, and a few others in the library, implying to kids that having nude strangers around you is acceptable.'
The V&A said it had selected every book in the children's area and believed they were all 'age appropriate'. But more parents protested at finding such graphic books in the same reading room as The Gruffalo and Peter Pan.
A book at Young V&A in Bethnal Green, East London, (pictured) which includes graphic illustrations of naked adults, has been branded as 'a useful tool for paedos to groom children'
The picture book, displayed at the front of a reading room used by small children, was entitled It Isn't Rude To Be Nude and had a drawing of a naked man sprawled across the opening pages
Shadow equalities secretary Claire Coutinho said the book was 'an obvious safeguarding risk'
One said they had to 'dodge' the 'pornographic' books before their toddler could spot them. Another said the museum's book selection 'amounted to psychological warfare' on children.
It included a graphic novel titled Rainbow Revolutionaries, 50 LGBTQ+ People Who Made History - celebrating drag queens and transgender figures and presenting highly contested trans theories as facts to children.
In the glossary, it explained to children that 'gender affirmation surgery' means 'surgery that helps trans people feel more comfortable in their body'.
Other terms deemed appropriate by the V&A for children include 'polyamorous: when someone openly has multiple partners at the same time' and 'asexual: not having any or having very low desire for sex'. There are also detailed descriptions of transgender, pansexual and gender-queer flags.
Kate Barker, CEO of the charity LGB Alliance, said: 'This is grooming in plain sight: an egregious safeguarding failure and the latest example of organisations using the rainbow flag to cloak the sexualisation of children.
'After recent scandals like Pride in Surrey [a festival whose founder was jailed for child rape], ordinary LGB people are sick of being associated with the TQ+ and their Trojan Horse tactics of using gay rights to gain legitimacy for their sinister goals.'
Other highly political books available to Young V&A readers included Act Now - Kids Fight Climate Change.
Another titled Rise Up aimed to inspire children with stories of 'ordinary kids with extraordinary stories' - including an 'environmental activist striving for climate change'.
The display also included a graphic novel titled Rainbow Revolutionaries, 50 LGBTQ+ People Who Made History - celebrating drag queens and transgender figures and presenting highly contested trans theories as facts to children.
Such books were found in the same reading room as The Gruffalo (pictured) and Peter Pan.
Shadow equalities secretary Claire Coutinho said: 'It is madness that the children's section of the V&A bans children from wearing costumes but allows them to read about what it means to be "polyamorous" or "pansexual".
'Cartoons of naked adults saying it "isn't rude to be nude" are an obvious safeguarding risk.'
A V&A spokesman said: 'The reading room at Young V&A is a free drop-in space for families to enjoy spending time reading together.
'All the books available have been reviewed by our staff to ensure they are age appropriate and grown-ups can choose which books they read with their children.'