THE FRIENDS of National Museums Liverpool was today disbanded amid stinging criticism of the NML director Dr David Fleming.

Andrew Pearce, chairman of the now disbanded Friends of NML (FNML), hit out at the way Dr Fleming had dealt with the group saying: "the Friends’ relations with his predecessor were extremely close and cordial, which has never been the case with the present incumbent".

Mr Pearce has also called on the trust of NML to "examine its conscience" for the way the breakdown was handled.

He also detailed the three main reasons why FNML believe the relationship broke down between the Friends and the museums itself:

1. The Friends were concerned the Slavery Museum, opened summer 2007, lacked balance in its portrayal of the slave trade and did not properly recognise Liverpool’s contribution to its abolition.

2. The Friends did not believe "that museums are primarily part of an educational campaign and certainly not that they should be an instrument of social engineering".

3. The group also claims the Maritime Museum has suffered from "downgraded importance leading to many objects of interest in this maritime city being kept in store out of public view when arrangements could have been made to display them".

Early last year NM ordered the Friends group out of their headquarters at the Albert Dock.