Poll: Do you like the design of the new Sir Winston Churchill plastic £5 note?

Unveiling the full new design for the £5 at Sir Winston's birthplace on Thursday, Mark Carney paid tribute to the wartime prime minister's "bulldog spirit" and his part in British history.

He said: "This spirit is just one, only one, of his many contributions that the Bank commemorates with the new fiver."

Mr Carney said "money was memory for a country and its people" and for that reason it was right that historical figures such as Churchill appeared on notes. The "new fiver", which is being issued in September, marks a break from the current paper notes because it is printed on polymer, a thin flexible plastic film, which is seen as more durable and secure.

It is slightly smaller than the note it is replacing, can be wiped clean and is tear-resistant.

The note was revealed today at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire where Sir Winston was born in 1874.

Mr Carney added: "Our banknotes are testaments to the outstanding achievements of the nation's greatest individuals. They are repositories of the United Kingdom's collective memory.

"That contribution will continue with the new £5, which brings together the future, in the form of polymer and the most advanced security features yet, and Britain's glorious history, in the achievements of Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill."

The new design is set to enter circulation in the autumn with a first print-run of 440 million notes, marking the start of the old notes' withdrawal.

It is about 15 per cent smaller than the current one and the new material will repel moisture – meaning that if a drink is spilled on it, the note can be wiped clean.

But the Bank has admitted that the plastic notes are liable to stick together, meaning shoppers are at risk of handing over two at once.

Current £5 notes feature prison reformer Elizabeth Fry.