Winston Churchill in politics, 1900–1939
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This article documents the career of Winston Churchill in Parliament from its beginning in 1900 to the start of his term as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in World War II.
Churchill
His career suffered a severe check in 1915, after his support for the failed
After contesting two seats unsuccessfully as an independent, he was elected to Epping in 1924 with the backing of local Conservatives, officially rejoining the Conservative Party the following year. He immediately became
Early years in Parliament
Entry into politics
Churchill discussed his political convictions in letters to his mother and made a number of unflattering comments about the Conservative government including:[citation needed]
Were it not for
home rule [in Ireland]to which I will never consent—I would enter parliament as a Liberal. As it is—Tory Democracy will have to be the standard under which I shall range myself.
His beliefs were significantly influenced by those of his father, Lord Randolph, after whose early death he wrote:[1]: 62
All my dreams of companionship with him, of entering Parliament at his side and in his support were ended. There remained only for me to pursue his aims and vindicate his memory.
Randolph had been a fervent supporter of
A few months in South Africa would earn me the
dispatch box.
His first political appearance was at a meeting of the Conservative
His first attempt to enter Parliament was unsuccessful when in July 1899 he was defeated in a by-election for the seat of Oldham in Lancashire. The constituency returned two members of parliament, both Conservatives at the previous election. One of them was ill and sought to retire, and Churchill was chosen as the new candidate. However, before the election the second member died so that two new candidates stood against two respected Liberal candidates, at a time when the popularity of the Conservative government was in decline.[3]: 47–49
Churchill looked about for a way to improve his public standing after the defeat. He arranged to travel as a war correspondent to South Africa, fortified by a letter of recommendation to the high commissioner,
Member for Oldham
Churchill stood again for Oldham in the 1900 general election, known as the "Khaki election" because the Conservative government greatly benefited from its success in the Boer war.[3]: 23–24 This time he came second, pushing one of the Liberal candidates into third place, and was elected. In both of these elections, his campaign expenses were paid for by his cousin the 9th Duke of Marlborough.[4]: 37
Churchill chose not to attend the opening of Parliament in December 1900 and instead embarked on a speaking tour throughout Britain and the United States. With the success of his tour and through his prolific writing in various journals and books, he earned £10,000 for himself in 1899 and 1900 (equivalent to around £500,000 in 2001).[3]: 69–70 Members of Parliament were unpaid and Churchill had inherited almost no money; the income he did inherit from his father's estate, he assigned to his mother in 1903.[4]: 26 He took his seat in Parliament in February 1901.
In Parliament, Churchill became associated with a group of
In 1902, Churchill revealed some of his views in an interview at the University of Michigan only published six decades later. In the interview, he spoke candidly about his desire for "the ultimate partition of China", as "the Aryan stock is bound to triumph." He also expressed lack of concern for Russian expansion towards China and India, as "Russia has a justifiable ambition to possess a warm water port. It is really embarrassing to think that 100,000,000 people are without one"—an unusual view during the era of the Great Game.[7]
By 1903, he was drawing away from Lord Hugh's views, although they remained friends – Lord Hugh was Churchill's best man in 1908. He also opposed the
Crossing the floor
Churchill's dissatisfaction continued to grow and, on 31 May 1904 as Parliament resumed following its Whitsun recess, he crossed the floor of the House of Commons, defecting from the Conservatives to sit as a member of the Liberal Party.[3]: 88 His cousin Ivor Guest followed him. Suggested reasons for Churchill's changing sides have included the prospect of a ministerial post and salary,[4]: 27 a desire to eliminate poverty, and concerns for the working class, [nb 2] but the immediately preceding events were the rift with the Conservative Party over trade tariffs.[12] He may simply have been more sympathetic to the Liberals, despite being personally conservative and traditionalist; in 1962 he reportedly told another MP "I'm a Liberal. Always have been."[2]: 24 As a Liberal, he continued to campaign for free trade.[nb 3]
Contemporaries noted that Churchill seemed very like his father,
- In mind and manner he is a strange replica of his father, with all his father's suddenness and awareness, and I should say, more than his father's ability.[5]: 40
That resemblance went far; Churchill dressed like his father, and the Hughligans have been seen as the recreation of Lord Randolph's Fourth Party.[14]
From 1903 until 1905, Churchill was also engaged in writing Lord Randolph Churchill, a two-volume biography of his father which was published in 1906 and received much critical acclaim.[3]: 102–103 [15] However, filial devotion caused him to soften some of his father's less attractive aspects.[3]: 101 Theodore Roosevelt, who had known Lord Randolph, reviewed the book as "a clever, tactful, and rather cheap and vulgar life of that clever, tactful, and rather cheap and vulgar egotist".[4]: 47 Historians suggest Churchill used the book in part to vindicate his own career and in particular to justify crossing the floor.[4]: 41 [5]: 34–35 Churchill himself later wrote that studying his father's life was a major cause of his disenchantment with the Conservatives.[5]: 40
Growing prominence
When the Liberals took office, with
There is a higher authority which we should earnestly desire to obtain. I make no appeal, but I address myself particularly to the Hon. gentlemen opposite, who are long versed in public affairs, and who will not be able all their lives to escape from a heavy South African responsibility. They are the accepted guides of a Party which though a minority in this House, nevertheless embodies nearly half the nation. I will ask them seriously whether they will not pause before they commit themselves to violent or rash denunciation of this great arrangement...with all our majority we can only make it a gift of a Party, they can make it the gift of England.[5]: 42
In the 1906 general election, he won the seat of Manchester North West (carefully selected for him by the party). His electoral expenses were paid for by his uncle Lord Tweedmouth, a senior Liberal.[4]: 3
Churchill had become one of the most prominent members of the Government outside the Cabinet. Indeed, Campbell-Bannerman had proposed his promotion to the Cabinet while Churchill was still Undersecretary, but the King vetoed his appointment.
As President of the Board of Trade he supported
Also as President of the Board of Trade, Churchill took an active role in bringing about the radical social reforms which have become known as the
His direct achievements at the Board of Trade were considerable particularly in employment law. He was responsible for the Coal Mines Regulation Act 1908, which provided for an 8-hour day in all mines; the Trade Boards Act 1909, which established the first minimum wage system in Britain, mandating rates for both time- and piece-work for 200,000 workers in several industries (Churchill was able to get Conservative support for this and the Bill "passed without a division."[20]) and the Labour Exchanges Act 1909, setting up offices to help unemployed people find work.[3]: 150–151 As Home Secretary he continued these reforms with the National Insurance Act 1911, providing sickness and unemployment benefits.[3]
As a Cabinet Minister he had three outstanding qualities: he worked hard, he carried his proposals through Cabinet and Parliament, and he carried his department with him. These qualities, the historian, parliamentary clerk, and politician Robert Rhodes James notes, are not as common as they should be.[5]: 43 Churchill himself put his advancement to his submissions to Cabinet, not to his speeches.[21]
Churchill's most important indirect role in these reforms was his assistance in passing the People's Budget and the Parliament Act 1911.[3]: 157–166 The Budget included the introduction of new taxes on the wealthy to fund new social welfare programmes. Churchill biographer William Manchester called the People's Budget "a revolutionary concept" because it was the first budget in British history with the expressed intent of redistributing wealth to the British public.[22] When the Budget was discussed in 1909 he did feel some ambiguity over it.[3]: 159 But despite his doubts about its effectiveness, he launched himself into the fight for the budget and accepted the presidency of the Budget League, an organisation set up in response to the opposition's Budget Protest League.[3]: 161
After the budget was sent to the Commons in 1909 and passed, it went to the House of Lords, where it was subsequently vetoed. The Liberals than fought and won two general elections in January and December 1910 to gain a mandate for their reforms. In these campaigns which resulted in the curbing of the Lords' veto by the Parliament Act, Churchill was again to the fore, adding humour in his speeches:
"All civilisation," said Lord Curzon quoting Renan, "is the work of aristocracies." They liked that in Oldham. There was not a duke, not an earl, not a marquis, not a viscount in Oldham who did not think that a compliment had been paid to him. "All civilisation is the work of aristocracies." It would be more true to say "The upkeep of aristocracies has been the hard work of all civilisations."[5]: 38
In 1909 Churchill published a collection of speeches with a foreword under the title Liberalism and the Social Problem.[23] In it he argued for maintaining much of the social order and for gradualism in reform. He wanted to make the existing society work better and more humanely so as to preserve it better. Churchill, it was said, wanted a society where the upper class remained in control, distributing benefits to a grateful and industrious working class.[5]: 44–46 He was then compared with Lloyd George who was seen as Churchill's mentor[24] and from whom Churchill learned much, but who, unlike Churchill, wanted to change some of the fundamental structures of society. Churchill was one of very few Liberals who pressed for the expansion of the House of Lords whether or not the Parliament Act was passed.[3]: 223
Home Secretary
In 1910, Churchill was promoted to
In 1910, 30,000 Welsh coal miners in the
In early January 1911, Churchill arrived at the "Siege of Sidney Street" in London. He gave his own account of the incident in his book Thoughts and Adventures. There is some uncertainty as to whether Churchill attempted to give operational commands. Biographer Roy Jenkins comments that the reason he went was because "he could not resist going to see the fun himself" and that he did not issue commands.[3]: 194 A famous photograph from the time shows Churchill at the scene, peering around a corner to view the gun battle between cornered anarchists and Scots Guards. His role and presence attracted much criticism. The building under siege caught fire, and Churchill supported the decision to deny the fire brigade access, forcing the criminals to choose surrender or death. After an inquest, Arthur Balfour remarked, "He [Churchill] and a photographer were both risking valuable lives. I understand what the photographer was doing but what was the Right Honourable gentleman doing?"[3]: 195 The significance was that the whole highly publicised affair increased Churchill's already incipient reputation for being a frenetic and far-from-calm Home Secretary.[3]
While still at the Board of Trade in 1909, Churchill was accosted with a whip by suffragette Theresa Garnett.[3]: 186 [28]: 237 Churchill's proposed solution was a referendum on the issue but this found no favour with Asquith and women's suffrage remained unresolved until after World War I.[28]: 186
Prison reformer
The British penal system underwent a transition from harsh punishment to reform, education, and training for post-prison livelihoods. The reforms were controversial and contested; they were championed by Winston Churchill as Home Secretary.[29] He first achieved fame as a prisoner in the Boer war in 1899. He escaped after 28 days and the media, and his own book, made him a national hero overnight.[30] He later wrote, "I certainly hated my captivity more than I have ever hated any other in my whole life....Looking back on those days I've always felt the keenest pity for prisoners and captives."[31] As Home Secretary he was in charge of the nation's penal system. Biographer Paul Addison says. "More than any other Home Secretary of the 20th century, Churchill was the prisoner's friend. He arrived at the Home Office with the firm conviction that the penal system was excessively harsh". He worked to reduce the number sent to prison in the first place, shorten their terms, and make life in prison more tolerable, and rehabilitation more likely.[31] His reforms were not politically popular, but they had a major long-term impact on the British penal system.[32][33]
First Lord of the Admiralty
In 1911, Churchill was transferred to the office of the
Churchill was influenced in these reforms by the (then-retired) Admiral of the Fleet
In 1912 the Liberal Government, since the elections in 1910 dependent upon
As the crisis deepened, with the Ulster Volunteers drilling openly, Churchill arranged for a Royal Naval battleship squadron to cruise off Belfast
This incident revealed for the first time that Churchill was not prepared to negotiate under pressure, that while he would compromise behind the scenes and be magnanimous in victory, when confronted by a foe he stood his ground. This was an attitude he maintained through his career As he wrote in My Early Life p. 327[1]
I have always urged fighting wars and other contentions with might and main till overwhelming victory and then extending the hand of friendship to the vanquished. Thus I have always been against the Pacifists during the quarrel and the Jingoist at its close...I thought we should have conquered the Irish then given them Home Rule...and that after smashing the General Strike we should have met the grievances of the miners.
World War I
The start of the war
On 31 July 1914, Churchill ordered the seizure of the two Turkish battleships (Reşadiye and Sultan Osman I) then under construction in Britain. Although this decision was probably a wise one,[5]: 74 the way the order was carried out was not. The ships were boarded without negotiations with Turkey or compensation, and the British placed guards on one of the battleships to prevent Turkish sailors from boarding. The order probably helped propel Turkey into alliance with Germany. (Two German warships arriving in Turkey, the Goeben and the Breslau, were portrayed as replacements.) Churchill later defended himself referring to the negotiations that the Germans were starting with the Young Turks.[34]: 169 But Britain was also negotiating with Turkey at the same time and on 18 August Turkey declared neutrality.[42]
Admiral Beatty wrote to his wife that Churchill should either give the Admiralty his full attention or leave it alone, but his "flying about and putting his finger to pies which do not concern him is bound to lead to disaster". Churchill believed that he had "special knowledge" and an ability to improvise solutions, but others saw it as megalomania.[43]
Antwerp
In September 1914, with the Allies
Churchill was on his way to Dunkirk on the night of 2 October when his train was halted and he was taken back to London for a meeting with Kitchener,
Churchill arrived in Antwerp around 3pm on 3 October. He set up in the best hotel in Antwerp with Admiral
Churchill attracted ridicule.[44] He was strongly criticised by The Morning Post ("a costly blunder for which Mr W. Churchill must be held responsible") while Admiral Beatty wrote to his wife that Churchill had been "a darned fool" and "mad". Asquith wrote to Venetia Stanley likening Churchill to a tiger which has "tasted blood" and who was hinting that he wanted other opportunities for a major field command, and that he preferred military glory to political success. By 13 October Asquith was writing of "the wicked folly of it all" and that Churchill had led "sheep to the shambles".[43] He faced criticism for his poor judgment from his wife Clementine (he missed the birth of his daughter Sarah), and in his later writing conceded that he might have done things differently.[45] The Dunkirk force was also wound up after others, including Asquith, grew irritated about it.[44]
Modern historians tend to take a kinder view of Churchill's actions at Antwerp. He had asked for the brigades minus recruits, and it had been Kitchener who insisted on retaining territorials in the UK to defend the East Coast against possible German invasion. Only 57 men were actually killed.[46] In The World Crisis Churchill claimed he had prolonged Belgian surrender by a few days and occupied five German divisions.[34]: 323 In fact it had been a week and enabled Calais and Dunkirk to be secured. Rhodes James believes that Antwerp was "substantially to Churchill’s credit".[44] However, at the time he had thought that holding Antwerp would help the Allied advance north; the claim that it helped hold Calais and Dunkirk when the German advance resumed is hindsight.[43] The more damaging attack, made inside and outside the Cabinet, was that Churchill was seeking publicity instead of running his department.[47]: 293
Replacement of Battenberg
Churchill was also unpopular within the Navy itself for the replacement of Sir George Callaghan by Sir John Jellicoe as commander of the Grand Fleet and for bowing to public pressure and dismissing Prince Louis of Battenberg as First Sea Lord, although he was one of the last members of the government to concede that Battenberg had to be replaced.[48]: 82–88
Early development of the tank
Churchill played an important role in Britain's development of the tank,[nb 5] which he funded from the Navy budget without involving the War Office. In February 1915 he established the Landship Committee, which oversaw the design and construction of two prototypes, and during his period out of office he remained in close contact with the developers. By September 1916 the tank had been officially adopted by the Army and used in battle. On his appointment as Minister of Munitions in July 1917, Churchill assumed responsibility for the further development and production of tanks, and encouraged joint projects with the US.
Dardanelles Campaign
In early 1915, Churchill campaigned for an amphibious assault on the Belgian coast in 1914, which was opposed by
In 1911, Churchill had written that "it is no longer possible to force the Dardanelles".[5]: 82 Nonetheless, Churchill and others in the Admiralty, including Admiral Oliver, the Chief of the Naval Staff, were impressed by the German bombardment of Belgian fortresses in the Battle of Liège at the start of the war. As early as August 1914, he had ordered an appreciation of "a plan for the seizure of the Gallipoli peninsula, by a Greek army of adequate strength, with a view to admitting a British fleet to the Sea of Marmara." This was some three months before Turkey was at war and more than two years before Greece entered the war. Although later in August Greece did offer to attack Turkey, the offer was not accepted by Britain due to complaints from its ally Russia, and was withdrawn before Turkey entered the war in October.[51]: 10
Churchill pressed the issue at successive meetings of the War Council in 1914. After an exchange of telegrams with Admiral Sackville Carden, the Commander in the Aegean, he tabled his plan for forcing the Straits by naval bombardment at a further meeting of the Council in January 1915. He had not sought the view of the Naval Staff, and those senior naval officers with whom he had discussed the plan were dubious or opposed to the scheme.[5]: 85 The concept was flawed. The first attacks by the Navy in February 1915 were successful but were not pressed home (partly because of bad weather) and no troops were available to secure the gains made. Instead marines blew up the outer forts, which were reoccupied and rebuilt when the marines left.[51]: 163 The War Council had discussed using the 29th Division (then in Britain) and the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (then in Egypt) but no decision had been made when the naval attacks began.[5]: 89 At the time, Churchill claimed the navy could do the job alone and the troops would be needed—if at all—as an occupying force once the Straits were forced.[5]: 90
Carden's attack was slowed because the inner forts were concealed from the ships and few aircraft were available for spotting purposes (the seaplane tender HMS Ark Royal which supported the fleet carried just five seaplanes of an older design lacking sufficient range). Carden asked to discontinue the attack until there were more available.
Churchill refused, requiring the attack to continue,[52] and Carden planned to continue but then collapsed from a rupturing ulcer. His second in command, Admiral John de Robeck took over and pressed a further attack on 18 March, but this failed when the trawler minesweepers crewed by Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves (i.e. civilian seamen) came under attack and then the battleships ran into a mine field (three were sunk). De Robeck did not repeat the attacks, later giving his reason as concerns over what would happen if his ships succeeded in clearing a way through the strait, but then became trapped in the Sea of Marmora without any troops to occupy captured territory.[48]: 252 Churchill had anticipated the loss of ships: the battleships were mainly chosen because they were obsolete and unfit to face modern German ships, and he believed that the attack should have continued.[34]: vol.2 670–690 Commodore Roger Keyes (Carden's chief of staff) believed that with destroyers fitted for minesweeping, and with naval personnel manning the trawlers, the mines could have been removed. These improvements were carried out, but never tried against the defences. It was also reported at the time that the defences were short of ammunition, and now seems likely that at least some of guns, particularly the largest, would have been forced to cease firing the following day.[53]
The landings by the ANZAC, the 29th and Royal Naval divisions, and a French division were delayed until 25 April because of lack of preparations, by which time the Turks had deployed six divisions and created barbed wire and trench defences on likely landing sites. The troops landed against heavy resistance, but never managed to advance far from the initial bridgeheads, nor to capture the forts on the European side of the Dardanelles.
Churchill was widely blamed for the fiasco. Some historians have argued that he was right in saying that had the naval attacks been pressed the Turks, short of ammunition and low in morale would have had to abandon the forts and the Fleet could have occupied the Sea of Marmora and with it Constantinople.[51]: 165 But it is even more likely that had the Fleet been properly equipped with spotter planes and destroyer minesweepers, the attack on 18 March would have been successful. It is almost certain that a Fleet so equipped and supported by the four divisions made available in April would have cleared the Strait with almost no loss. As the minister responsible, Churchill was the one who did not provide the resources needed.[5]: 97–99 Clement Attlee, who served in the army at Gallipoli, described the campaign as "an immortal gamble that did not come off... Sir Winston had the one strategic idea in the war. He did not believe in throwing away masses of people to be massacred".[48]: 260
The Asquith Coalition, the Dardanelles Committee
The Liberal government was weakened by the failure of the naval attacks and the first landings in Gallipoli, by the failure of the offensive at Neuve Chapelle, and by the Shell Crisis. The Cabinet was bickering and some members plotted against others. Churchill himself aimed to replace Sir Edward Grey as Foreign Secretary with Balfour.[47]: 304 [nb 6] The historian Stephen Koss has argued that Churchill himself created the Shell Crisis. He states that during a visit to BEF Headquarters on 8 May he arranged with Colonel Charles à Court Repington, the Times correspondent there to publish the reports of the lack of shells.[54] James discounts this argument.[5]: 184 On 15 May Fisher resigned as First Sea Lord. He presented the Cabinet with a list of demands; if these were satisfied he would return to office. The first of these was that Churchill would be dismissed from Cabinet altogether. Fisher's demands were extreme, the King saying that Fisher should be hung from the yardarm,[55] but his resignation precipitated a Cabinet crisis.[56]
Prime Minister Asquith formed an all-party coalition government. The Conservatives demanded Churchill's demotion as the price for entry.[3]: 282–288 He had little support in Cabinet or in the Liberal Party as a whole. Many thought the same as Lloyd George: that Churchill's ambition had led him to override his professional advisers and his record was a succession of grisly failures.[47]: 309 Others, including Mrs Asquith, blamed him for breaking the Cabinet and forcing the Coalition.[5]: 103–04 However Sir Max Aitken interceded unsuccessfully with his close friend the Conservative Leader Bonar Law and later wrote of Churchill:
His attitude from August 1914 was a noble one, too noble to be wise. He cared for the success of the British aims, especially insofar as they could be achieved by the Admiralty, and for nothing else. His passion for this aim was pure, self-devoted, and all-devouring. He failed to remember he was a politician.[57]
Churchill was demoted to the sinecure of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and became a member of the newly formed Dardanelles Committee. Churchill blamed Asquith for the demotion,[58] but in fact Asquith and Lloyd George attempted to make Churchill Colonial Secretary.[47]: 309 [nb 7]
In June and again in July, with Kitchener's support he argued for increased forces to be sent to Gallipoli. This led to the despatch of the
During Churchill's time on the Dardanelles Committee he was the sole Liberal supporter of Lloyd George's campaign for conscription. This served to separate him further from the majority of the Liberal Party without healing his breach with the Conservatives, though many of them supported conscription.[47]: 326–29
Upon resigning he rejoined the army, though remaining an MP, and served for several months on the
Return to power
When he returned to Parliament in summer 1916 Churchill sat on the opposition benches. The opposition at this time was largely dissatisfied Conservatives who were not in the Coalition and was headed by Carson. This changed in December 1916, when Asquith resigned as prime minister being
In July 1917, Churchill was appointed
Post-war coalition
War and Air Secretary
In January 1919, after the 1918 Coupon election, Churchill became Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for Air. He was not a member of the War Cabinet, which continued until November 1919.[47]: 478–79 Churchill had pressed for appointment as Minister of Defence, combining all three service departments and the Ministry of Munitions (now renamed the Ministry of Supply and with a seat in Cabinet). He was unsuccessful.
His first challenge was demobilisation. He inherited a scheme whereby those men required most for industry would be demobilised first. In practice this meant that those who had served in the forces the shortest were being released from the forces first. Ex-servicemen rioted, at one time burning Luton Town Hall.[63] Churchill scrapped the system, instead releasing those who had served longest first.[5]: 130–32 The soldiers' unrest was but one domestic problem: there were strikes and riots in Glasgow, and a proposed national miners strike. Churchill suggested using four divisions of the Rhine Army as strikebreakers.[5]
He was the main architect of the
A major preoccupation of his tenure in the War Office was the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. British forces were already in Russia, at Murmansk, in Siberia, and guarding the Baku railway before Churchill took charge at the War Office. The Cabinet was divided, without a clear policy. While Lloyd George proposed negotiations between all the Russian groups, which led to US President Woodrow Wilson's abortive Prinkipo Plan, Red Army attacks on the British positions led the Cabinet to approve 'forward defence".[5]: 137
Churchill was a staunch advocate of foreign intervention, declaring that
Churchill's actions in supporting the White forces led to a break with Lloyd George which was never completely healed,[47]: 502–504 [61]: 180–83 : 180–83 criticism by the Press[61]: 165 and further distrust from Labour.[5]: 158–59
Churchill was responsible for establishing both the Auxiliary Division and the Black and Tans during the Irish War of Independence. He defended their activities, saying they enjoyed the same freedom as police in Chicago or New York in dealing with armed gangs. He initially advocated the military defeat of the IRA and its supporters. By summer 1921, however, as the Colonial Secretary he was pressing for negotiations. His desired negotiating position was to offer a measure of Irish self-government from a position of strength: he "wished to couple a tremendous onslaught with the fairest offer."[67]
In 1920, as Secretary of State for War and Air, Churchill was responsible for quelling
Colonial Secretary
Churchill became
: 170–172Churchill's other main concern while Colonial Secretary was the Middle East. He wanted Egypt (then administered by the Foreign Office) to be brought under his department's control.[5]: 174 He was faced with continuing riots and communal violence in those parts of the former Ottoman Empire that British forces occupied after World War I. Most of these riots were against the British occupation. Churchill did not want to give the complete independence that some of the Arabs had been promised. Rather, his aims were to reduce the British forces in the region and to ensure that British interests, particularly in the air route to India and the oil fields, were protected. The local population was a less important issue.[nb 9]
After setting up a Middle Eastern Department within the Colonial Office, Churchill convened a conference in Cairo in March 1921, attended by T. E. Lawrence, Gertrude Bell, Sir Hugh Trenchard, Sir John Salmond, and Sir Percy Cox. No Arabs were invited to the conference.[70]
The method recommended by the Conference and chosen by Churchill, summarised by
Churchill's creation of Iraq from three the Ottoman
With regard to
Second crossing of the floor
Anyone can rat, but it takes a certain ingenuity to re-rat.
— Churchill, after rejoining the Conservatives[77]
In October 1922, Churchill underwent an operation to remove his
The constituency had a significantly working-class composition, so that his principal opponents were a candidate for the steadily rising Labour Party, E. D. Morel, and a local prohibitionist, Edwin Scrymgeour, who had stood unsuccessfully in the constituency many times, but steadily increasing his vote each time. The Dundee constituency returned two members, so Scrymgeour and Morel worked in partnership, each lending his factional support to the other. Churchill was partnered by another National Liberal, but they were opposed by an Asquithian Liberal candidate following the split in the party. The result was that Scrymgeour and Morel won, with Churchill relegated to fourth place behind his running mate.[3]: 370–375 Churchill quipped later that he left Dundee "without an office, without a seat, without a party, and without an appendix".[79] The result of the general election was the first non-coalition Conservative government since 1900. The Liberal Party never recovered the position in politics which it had once enjoyed.
Churchill stood for the Liberals again in the 1923 general election, losing in Leicester, but over the next few months he moved towards the Conservative Party in all but name. His first electoral contest as an independent candidate, fought under the label of "Independent Anti-Socialist", was a narrow loss in a by-election in the Westminster Abbey constituency—his third electoral defeat in fewer than two years. However, he stood for election yet again several months later in the general election of 1924, again as an independent candidate, this time under the label of "Constitutionalist" although with Conservative backing, and was finally elected to represent Epping. The following year, he formally rejoined the Conservative Party, commenting wryly that "Anyone can rat, but it takes a certain ingenuity to re-rat."[77]
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Churchill was appointed
Churchill held a dinner at which the principal opponents of a return, economist John Maynard Keynes and former chancellor and chairman of the Midland Bank Reginald McKenna, were encouraged to argue out their case with Niemeyer and Bradbury. The dinner continued into the early hours of the morning but, in the end, Keynes's academic arguments proved unconvincing, and McKenna conceded that Churchill had little political choice except to return to gold.[3]: 400 This decision later prompted Keynes to write The Economic Consequences of Mr. Churchill, arguing that the return to the gold standard at the pre-war parity in 1925 (£1=$4.86) would lead to a world depression. The pamphlet did not criticise the decision to return to the gold standard per se. The decision was generally popular and seen as 'sound economics' although it was opposed by Lord Beaverbrook and the Federation of British Industries.[5]: 207
Churchill later regarded this as the greatest mistake of his life; in discussions with McKenna, he acknowledged that the return to the gold standard and the resulting 'dear money' policy was economically bad. In those discussions, he maintained the policy as fundamentally political — a return to the pre-war conditions in which he believed.[5]: 206 Writing about the events in his biography of Churchill, Roy Jenkins argued that, although Churchill had challenged the proposal to return to the gold standard in the face of almost unanimous political and institutional demand, he had possibly been the only person who could have prevented the enactment of the return to the gold standard legislation at this late stage and its consequences, so ultimate responsibility remained with him for the decision.[3]: 401
The return to the pre-war exchange rate and to the gold standard depressed industries, the most affected being coal mining. Already suffering from declining output as shipping switched to oil, and basic British industries like cotton came under more competition in export markets, the return to the pre-war exchange was estimated to add up to ten per cent in costs to the industry. In July 1925 a commission of inquiry reported generally favouring the miners', rather than the mine owners' position.
During the
When Churchill visited Rome in January 1927, he controversially claimed that the fascism of
It was not only the return to the gold standard that later economists, as well as those at the time, criticised in Churchill's time at the
Political isolation
The Conservative government was defeated in the 1929 General Election. Churchill did not seek election to the Conservative Business Committee, the official leadership of the Conservative MPs. Over the next two years, Churchill became estranged from the Conservative leadership over the issues of protective tariffs and the Indian Home Rule movement, which he bitterly opposed. He further distanced himself from the party as a whole by his political views and by his friendships with press barons, financiers, and people whose characters were seen as dubious. When Ramsay MacDonald formed the National Government in 1931, Churchill was not invited to join the Cabinet. He was at the low point in his career, in a period known as "the wilderness years".[87]
He spent much of the next few years concentrating on his writing, including Marlborough: His Life and Times—a biography of his ancestor John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough—and A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (though the latter was not published until well after World War II).[87] Churchill's depiction of Marlborough in Marlborough: His Life and Times had shown close parallels to his own stand against appeasement. Both were war leaders advocating firm policies, but surrounded by an attacking public and hostile politicians.[4]: 402 [5]: 395–400 In doing so they echo public comments at the time. The Daily Express referred to Churchill's speech in October 1938 against the Munich agreement as "an alarmist oration by a man whose mind is soaked in the conquests of Marlborough".
Though badly hurt when he was struck by a car in New York City on a North American speaking tour, he wrote a profitable article about the experience. He wrote many other articles, collections of speeches, and several books—some such as his Great Contemporaries of lasting worth. He supported himself largely by his writing and was one of the best paid writers of his time.[87]
Nevertheless, he was still in financial difficulties, having lost most of his American investments in the
His political views, set forth in his 1930 Romanes Election and published as Parliamentary Government and the Economic Problem (republished in 1932 in his collection of essays "Thoughts and Adventures") involved abandoning universal suffrage, a return to a property franchise, proportional representation for the major cities, and an economic 'sub-parliament'.[88]
Indian independence
During the first half of the 1930s, outspoken opposition towards the granting of
Churchill denounced the Round Table Conference. He spoke at public meetings in
In Parliament on 26 January 1931, he attacked the Government's policy, saying that the Round Table Conference "was a frightful prospect" and that he would support "effective and real organisms of provisional and local government in the provinces."[90] He returned to the Parliamentary attack on 13 March. Baldwin answered him by quoting Churchill's own speech in winding up the debate for the Lloyd George Coalition government on the Amritsar massacre, in which Churchill defended the dismissal of General Reginald Dyer. Baldwin continued by challenging Churchill and his other critics to depose him as leader of the Conservative Party.[91]
There were two incidents which damaged Churchill's reputation greatly within the Conservative Party in the period. Both were seen at the time as attacks on the Conservative leadership and as an attempt to undermine those Conservatives—and Baldwin in particular - who supported granting Dominion status to India.
The first was his speech on the eve of the
The second issue also affected Churchill's reputation. On 16 April 1934 Churchill claimed in Parliament that Sir
Churchill permanently broke with Stanley Baldwin over Indian independence and did not again hold any office while Baldwin was prime minister. In the index to The Gathering Storm, Churchill's first volume of his history of World War II, he records Baldwin "admitting to putting party before country" for his alleged admission that he would not have won the 1935 election if he had pursued a more aggressive policy of rearmament.[5]: 343 Churchill selectively quotes a speech in the Commons by Baldwin and gives the false impression that Baldwin is speaking of the general election when he was speaking of a by-election in 1933, and omits altogether Baldwin's actual comments about the 1935 election: "we got from the country, a mandate for doing a thing [a substantial rearmament programme] that no one, twelve months before, would have believed possible." This canard had been first put forward in the first edition of Guilty Men but in subsequent editions (including those before Churchill wrote The Gathering Storm) had been corrected.[92]
Churchill continued his campaign against any further transfer of power to Indian natives. He continued to predict conflict in India and mass unemployment at home. His speeches often quoted 19th-century politicians and his own policy was to maintain the existing Raj. In pursuing this campaign Churchill cut himself off from the mainstream of Conservative politics as much as from the rest of the political world. Younger Conservatives such as Duff Cooper, who later described Churchill's campaign as the most unfortunate event that occurred between the two wars,[93] and Harold Macmillan saw Churchill as a reactionary, someone who was completely out of touch and at base, undemocratic—leaning towards the totalitarian regimes. Churchill's public comments often seemed that way.
Elections, even in the most educated democracies are regarded as a misfortune and as a disturbance, of social, moral, and economic progress, even as a danger to international peace. Why at this moment should we force upon the untutored races of India that very system the inconveniences of which are now felt even in the most highly developed nations: the United States, Germany, France, and England herself[5]: 274
Some historians see his basic attitude to India as being set out in his book My Early Life (1930) and as being unchanged since his military service before he entered parliament. In so saying they note his references in his speeches on India to late Victorian politicians such as John Morley.[5]: 258 Historians also dispute his motives in maintaining his opposition. Some see him as trying to destabilise the National Government. In this they follow Amery (see above) and Lloyd George, who believed that with MacDonald ill and Churchill leading the Conservative right-wing, Baldwin would have to form a new Coalition in which both he and Churchill would have had key ministries.[47]: 710–712
Some historians also draw a parallel between Churchill's attitudes to India and those towards the Nazis. For example, Manfred Weidhorn in the introduction to the American edition of India (a collection of Churchill's speeches on the topic) writes.
"...
Machiavelli sheds light on Churchill. The Italian notes that virtues and vices are often symbiotic rather than antithetical. Thus people say, 'Hannibal was a great general—too bad he was cruel', when the likelihood is that Hannibal was great in part because he was cruel. So here we have to consider the probability that Churchill was great in 1940 in part because he was too pugnacious, stubborn, deluded, and conservative (in the deepest sense) to be able to adjust to the New Order in Europe—traits he had shown in the matter of India."[94]
German rearmament
Churchill was wary of
In 1931 Churchill warned against the
Although no subsequent political action can condone wrong deeds, history is replete with examples of men who have risen to power by employing stern, grim, and even frightful methods, but who, nevertheless when their life is revealed as a whole, have been regarded as great figures whose lives have enriched the story of mankind. So may it be with Hitler.[98]
Churchill's first major speech on defence on 7 February 1934 stressed the need to rebuild the Royal Air Force and to create a Ministry of Defence; his second, on 13 July, urged a renewed role for the League of Nations. These three topics remained his themes until early 1936. In 1935 he was one of the founding members of "
When the
This surprising appointment—it surprised Inskip as much as anyone, and A. J. P. Taylor later wrote of "an appointment rightly described as the most extraordinary since Caligula made his horse a consul"[101]—came despite advice to Baldwin to broaden his cabinet. Historians have variously seen it as Baldwin's caution in not wanting to appoint someone as controversial as Churchill, as avoiding giving Germany any sign that the United Kingdom was preparing for war, and as avoiding someone who had few allies in the Conservative Party and was opposed as a war monger by some people in the United Kingdom.[nb 11] Whatever the reason, it was a severe blow to Churchill.[87]
In June 1936 Churchill organised a deputation of senior Conservatives who shared his concern to see Baldwin, Chamberlain, and Halifax. He had tried to include delegates from the other two parties, and later wrote "If the leaders of the Labour and Liberal oppositions had come with us there might have been a political situation so intense as to enforce remedial action."[39]: 276 As it was the meeting achieved little, Baldwin arguing that the Government was doing all it could given the anti-war feeling of the electorate but it showed that more Conservatives shared Churchill's views—he was less isolated then he had been earlier.[87] John Gunther wrote that year that he "may still become prime minister ... Churchill's judgment is faulty, people say; he is too impetuous and 'unstable'; but most people agree that in a great upheaval he would emerge as Britain's national leader."[103]
Abdication crisis
In June 1936,
The abdication crisis became public in the first fortnight of December 1936. At this time Churchill publicly gave his support to the King. The first public meeting of the Arms and the Covenant Movement was on 3 December. Churchill was a major speaker and later wrote that in replying to the Vote of Thanks, he made a declaration 'on the spur of the moment' asking for delay before any decision was made by either the King or his Cabinet.[39]: 170–71 Others including Citrine, who chaired the meeting, wrote that Churchill did not make such a speech.[106] Later that night, Churchill saw the draft of the King's proposed wireless broadcast, and spoke with Beaverbrook and the King's solicitor about it.
On 4 December, he met with the King and again urged delay in any decision about abdication. On 5 December, he issued a lengthy statement implying that the Ministry was applying unconstitutional pressure on the King to force him to make a hasty decision.[5]: 349–351 On 7 December, he tried to address the Commons to plead for delay. He was shouted down. Seemingly staggered by the unanimous hostility of all Members, he left.[107]
Churchill's reputation in Parliament and the United Kingdom as a whole was badly damaged. Some such as Alistair Cooke saw him as trying to build a King's Party.[108] Others like Harold Macmillan were dismayed by the damage Churchill's support for the King had done to the Arms and the Covenant Movement.[109] Churchill himself later wrote "I was myself smitten in public opinion that it was the almost universal view that my political life was ended."[39]: 171
One unresolved issue is the amount of Churchill's involvement with the King's address, the first draft of which the Cabinet refused to let the King air—it was rightly said to be the King seeking to appeal to the people against the Ministry. The King (by then Duke of Windsor) acknowledged Churchill's help in writing the speech,[110] but some historians say that Churchill wrote it all.[111]
Historians are divided about Churchill's motives in his support for Edward VIII. Some, such as A. J. P. Taylor, see it as being an attempt to 'overthrow the government of feeble men'.[112] Others, such as James, see Churchill's motives as entirely honourable and disinterested, indicating that he felt deeply for the King.[5]: 353
Return from exile
Churchill later sought to portray himself as an isolated voice warning of the need to rearm against Germany. While it is true that he had little following in the House of Commons during much of the 1930s, he was given considerable privileges by the government. The "Churchill group" in the latter half of the decade consisted only of him, Duncan Sandys, and Brendan Bracken. It was isolated from the other main factions within the Conservative Party pressing for faster rearmament and a stronger foreign policy.[nb 12] In some senses the 'exile' was more apparent then real. Churchill continued to be consulted on many matters by the government or seen as an alternative leader. [nb 13]
Even while Churchill was campaigning against Indian independence, he received official and otherwise secret information. From 1932, Churchill's neighbour, Major
When Chamberlain replaced Baldwin as prime minister in May 1937 he did not bring Churchill into the government; besides the appeasement issue, Chamberlain told Churchill supporter
Notes
- ^ He published a collection of his speeches on this topic as Mr Brodrick's Army[6]
- ^ Hill sees Churchill’s position on free trade land taxation as being the way to remove poverty as correct.[10][11]
- ^ He published For Free Trade, a collection of his speeches on the topic.[13]
- ^ For more details of this period see Hyam,[16]
- ^ The French developed tanks separately at roughly the same time.
- Freddie Guest (who was also an MP and Churchill's first cousin) to Lloyd George, Balfour, and Bonar Law on 12 May complaining about Lord Kitchener; and Kitchener and Lloyd George were disputing the control of munitions manufacturing.[47]: 304–08
- ^ The exchange between Churchill and Lloyd George is revealing: Churchill: "You don't care what becomes of me. You don't care if I am trampled underfoot. You don't care for my personal reputation." Lloyd George: "No. I don't care for my own at the present moment. All I care about is that we win the war."
- Phoenix Park to bombard the Republicans in the Four Courts in Dublin.[5]: 170–172
- ^ Asquith's questions in the Commons about Arabs hanged as 'traitors' exposes Churchill's dilemma Why are Arabs rebels? To whom traitors?[69]: 225
- ^ Harold Nicolson's letter to his wife on 13 March summed up the situation: "If we send an ultimatum to Germany she ought in all reason to climb down. But then she will not climb down and we shall have war.... The people of this country absolutely refuse to have a war. We would be faced with a general strike if we suggested such a thing. We shall therefore have to climb down ignominiously."[100]
- ^ A. P. Herbert for example wrote "I did think he rather enjoyed a war and after three years in the trenches in Gallipoli and France, I did not."[102]: 108
- ^ These factions were headed by Anthony Eden and Leo Amery.[5]: 428
- ^ He was so consulted and so regarded during the abdication crisis. See footnotes above.
References
- ^ ISBN 978-09-07871-62-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-01-43117-99-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-03-30488-05-1.
- ^ ISBN 9780141022154. Originally an essay entitled "Churchill: The Aristocratic Adventurer" in Aspects of Aristocracy. Penguin 1994.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg James, Robert Rhodes (1973). Churchill: a Study in Failure 1900–1939. Harmondsworth, London: Pelican (Penguin). pp. 26, 33–34., reprint of the 1970 edition by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London
- ^ "Mr. Brodrick's Army". Retrieved 26 June 2013.
- ^ "WSC: A Midnight Interview, 1902". 15 March 2015.
- Churchill, Randolph S.(1967). Winston Churchill. Vol. II. Heinemann.
- ^ "All the Elections Churchill Ever Contested".
- ^ Hill, Malcolm (1999). Churchill: His Radical Decade. London: Othila Press.
- ^ Grafstein, Q.C., Senator Jerry S. (27 October 1993). Churchill as Liberal (Speech). University Club of Toronto.
- ISBN 0-7126-6725-3.
- ^ "The Works of WSC – For Free Trade". Savrola. Retrieved 24 January 2008.
- ^ Rhodri Williams Defending the Empire: The Conservative Party and British Defence Policy
- ^ "The Works of WSC – Lord Randolph Churchill". Savrola. Retrieved 24 January 2008.
- ^ Hyam, Ronald (1968). Elgin and Churchill at the Colonial Office 1905–1908. London and New York: Macmillan (UK) and St. Martin's Press (US).
- ^ Turnour, 6th Earl Winterton, Edward. Churchill by his Contemporaries: "Churchill the Parliamentarian" (ed. Charles Eade ed.).
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Jenkins, Roy (1964). Asquith:Portrait of a Man and an Era Chilmark Press.
- ^ Elections Churchill Contested – The Churchill Centre
- ^ Churchill, Randolph. Winston S. Churchill: Young Statesman. (c) 1967 C & T Publications: pp. 287–89
- ^ Churchill 'Asquith' in Great Contemporaries Mandarin edition p. 85
- ISBN 0385313489.
- ^ For more details including a short summary see "Liberalism and the Social Problem". Savrola.co.uk. 6 June 2008. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
- Violet Bonham Carter, Baroness Asquith of YarnburyWinston Churchill as I knew him Eyre & Spottiswoode London 1965 p. 161 Such comparison continues today. See for example Richard Toye, Lloyd George and Churchill: Rivals for Greatness. Macmillan London 2007
- Welsh History Review(1994), 17#1 pp 67-99.
- ^ Randolph Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Young Statesman. 1967), pp. 359–65
- ISBN 9781476665832.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-415-23926-4.
- ^ Jamie Bennett, "The Man, the Machine and the Myths: Reconsidering Winston Churchill’s Prison Reforms." in Helen Johnston, ed., Punishment and Control in Historical Perspective (2008) pp. 95-114. online
- ^ Candice Millard, Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill (2016)
- ^ ISBN 9780191608575.
- JSTOR 24437567
- ^ Bailey, Victor (March 1985). "Churchill as Home Secretary". History Today. 35 (3): 10–13.
- ^ a b c d e f g h The World Crisis New Edition Odhams 1938
- ^ Churchill, Randolph S. (1967). "18: Eve of War". Winston S. Churchill: Young Statesman 1901-1914. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. pp. 681–682.
- Joint Force Quarterly, 2000
- ^ a b Mackay, Ruddock Fisher of Kilverstone, Clarendon, Oxford, 1973
- ^ Bromage, Mary (1964), Churchill and Ireland, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, IL, pg 29., Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 64-20844
- ^ a b c d The Gathering Storm Vol 1
- ^ H. Montgomery Hyde Carson
- ^ K. Rose King George V pp. 156–58
- ^ Declaration of Neutrality. 26 October 2005. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Charmley 1993, pp. 102–04
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Rhodes James 1970, pp. 62–63
- ^ a b c d e f g h Jenkins 2001, pp. 248–51
- ^ Prior 1983, pp. 32–33
- ^ ISBN 0214200493.
- ^ a b c Marder, A. J. (1961). From Dreadnought to Scapa Flow. Vol. II. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Phillip Magnus Kitchener, Portrait of an Imperialist E. P. Dutton and Co (1968)
- ISBN 978-1-84574-273-7.
- ^ a b c Hart, B. H. Liddell. History of the First World War Pan 1972
- ^ War in the Mediterranean 1915 Archived 11 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 0-553-81506-7.
- ^ Journal of Modern History Volume 40, No 2, page 357.
- ^ Kenneth Rose King George V p. 189
- ^ That Fisher's resignation, rather than the Shell Crisis, did so is shown by Lord Beaverbrook Politicians and the War Vol 1 p. 142
- ^ Aitken, Max. Politicians and the War Vol 1 p. 125
- ^ Great Contemporaries p. 92
- ^ Beaverbrook Men and Power p. 113
- ^ For Churchill's own account of this, and of the Conscription issues and of his own exclusion from the Ministry see The World Crisis pp. 1098–1111
- ^ a b c d e f g h Taylor, A. J. P. Beaverbrook Hamish Hamilton 1972
- ^ For his own account see The World Crisis pp. 1140–1156
- ^ Description of the Peace Day riot
- ^ Ferris, John. "Treasury Control, the Ten Year Rule, and British Service Policies, 1919–1924". The Historical Journal, Vol. 30, No. 4. (December 1987), pp. 859–883.
- ^ "The Military Strategist" in Churchill: Four faces and the Man p. 180
- ^ Jeffrey Wallin with Juan Williams (4 September 2001). "Cover Story: Churchill's Greatness". Churchill Centre. Retrieved 26 February 2007.
- ^ Churchill, The Aftermath p. 291.
- ^ "RAF History pp. 63–66" (PDF). Retrieved 1 August 2010.
- ^ a b c Wilson, A. N. After the Victorians Hutchinson 2005
- ^ Martin Gilbert Winston S Churchill Vol IV p. 557; Gilbert quotes contemporary sources on how unpopular Churchill was in Cairo.
- ^ "Lawrence of Airpower". Air Force Magazine. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
- ^ Christopher Catherwood. Churchill's Folly: How Winston Churchill Created Iraq Carroll and Graf, US 2004: Constable UK in 2004. For an alternate view, see John Lukas, HNN.us Winston Churchill's Role In The Middle East And Iraq.
- ^ "Was Winston Churchill really "strongly in favor of using poisoned gas against uncivilized tribes?"" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 October 2007.
- ^ Omissi, D. E. Air Power and Colonial Control: The RAF 1919–1939 Manchester University Press 1990 p. 160 For more details on RAF policing in Iraq, see RAF.mod.ukThe Royal Air Force – a history p. 65.
- ISBN 9780795344541.
- S2CID 159908069.
- ^ a b Happold, Tom (6 April 2005). "Labour defector asks to return". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
- ^ "Churchill Howled Down". Churchill the Evidence. 14 November 1922.
- ^ Hall, Douglas J. (1950). "All the Elections Churchill Ever Contested". Churchill and... Politics. The Churchill Centre. Retrieved 26 February 2007.
- ^ Budget Blunders: Mr Churchill and the Gold Standard (1925), BBC News. Retrieved 2 December 2007.
- ^ Rhodes James 1970, pp. 169–174; Gilbert 1992, pp. 475–476.
- ^ Gilbert 1992, pp. 477–479.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84018-631-4.
- )
- ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 404.
- ^ OCLC 30029512.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84413-418-2.
- ^ Books Written by Winston Churchill (see Amid these Storms), The Churchill Centre, 2007
- ^ OCLC 10540324.
- ^ 247 House of Commons Debates 5s col 755
- ^ Martin, Hugh (1932). Battle: The life story of the Rt. Hon. Winston S. Churchill. London: Sampson Low. p. 229.
- ^ For full discussion see R Basset "Telling the truth to the People: the myth of the Baldwin 'confession'". Cambridge Journal November 1948
- ^ Cooper, Duff. Old Men Forget p. 171 Harte Davis 1954
- ^ Churchill. India Thornton Butterworth, London 1931; facsimile edition with introduction by M Weidhorn Dragonwyck Publishing 1990
- ^ ISBN 0-300-08030-1.
- ^ Charmley. J. Lord Lloyd and the decline of the British Empire pp. 1, 2, 213ff
- ^ 'Hitler' in Great Contemporaries 1939 edition pp. 167–68
- S2CID 159553945. The first quote is omitted from later editions of Great Contemporaries the second remains. See Great Contemporaries revised 1939 edition p. 165
- ^ For a history of Focus see E Spier Focus Wolff 1963
- ^ Nicolson, Harold (1966). Diaries and Letters 1930–1939. New York, Atheneum.: 249
- ^ The Origins of the Second World War p. 153.
- ^ Herbert, A. P. Independent Member.
- ^ Gunther, John (1936). Inside Europe. Harper & Brothers. p. 255.
- ^ Frederick Smith, 2nd Earl of Birkenhead. Walter Monckton Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1969 p. 129.
- ^ Middlemas, K. R. and Barnes, J. Stanley Baldwin Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1969 p. 999.
- ^ Citrine. Men and Work. Hutchinson 1964 p. 357.
- ^ Lord Beaverbrook; A. J. P. Taylor, editor. (1966). The Abdication of King Edward VIII. London: Hamish Hamilton.
- ^ Cooke, Alistair. "Edward VIII" in Six Men. Bodley Head 1977
- ^ Macmillan, Harold. The Blast of War Macmillan 1970
- ^ "Edward & Wallis Time 22nd May 1950". Time. 22 May 1950. Archived from the original on 8 June 2008. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
- ^ Pearson, J/. Citadel of the Heart: Winston and the Churchill Dynasty p. 269 Pan 1993
- ^ Taylor, A. J. P. English History (1914–1945) Hamish Hamilton 1961 p. 404.
- ^ Current Biography 1942, p. 155
- ^ Gilbert, Martin. Winston S. Churchill: Prophet of Truth: 1923–1939. (c) 1977: p. 972.
- ^ Langworth 2008, pp. 256–57
- ^ Gunther, John (1940). Inside Europe. New York: Harper & Brothers. p. 322.
Primary sources
Aitken, Max (Lord Beaverbrook). Politicians and the War Vol 1 1928, Vol 2 1932, Butterworth. (A single-volume edition was published in 1960.)
Churchill, Winston.
- The World Crisis (six volumes, 1923–1931), 1-vol edition (2005); on World War I (the references in this article are to the 4-volume 'new edition' Odhams 1938)
- Great Contemporaries
- My Early Life
Speeches by Winston Churchill Churchill published several volumes of his speeches, usually with an introduction. Most are out of print though some have been reissued. The volumes relevant to this period are as follows:
- Mr. Brodrick's Army (1903)
- For Free Trade (1906)
- Liberalism and the Social Problem (1910)
- The People's Rights (1910)
- India (1931)
- Arms and the Covenant / While England Slept (1938) (introduction by Randolph S. Churchill)
- James, Robert Rhodes, ed. Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, 1897–1963. 8 vols. London: Chelsea, 1974. 8,917 pp.
Secondary sources
The list below refers only to sources relevant to this period in Churchill's life.
- Addison, Paul. Churchill on the home front, 1900–1955 (Faber & Faber, 2013).
- Cannadine, David. The Aristocratic Adventurer, Penguin (2005). Originally an essay entitled "Churchill: The Aristocratic Adventurer" in Aspects of Aristocracy.
- Carter, Violet Bonham, Baroness Asquith of Yarnbury. Winston Churchill as I knew him. Eyre & Spottiswoode London (1965)
- Catherwood, Christopher. Churchill's Folly: How Winston Churchill Created Iraq. Carroll and Graf, US (2004)
- OCLC 440131865.
- Churchill, Randolph. Winston S. Churchill: Young Statesman. This is the second volume of the authorised biography which was continued by Martin Gilbert after Randolph Churchill's death. C & T Publications (1967)
- Eade, Charles. Churchill by his Contemporaries. Hutchinson (1953)
- Gilbert, Sir Martin. Churchill. Authorised biography, as above. The volumes relevant here are The Challenge of War 1914-16, The Stricken World 1917-22 and Prophet of Truth 1922–1939.
- Gilbert, Martin (1992). Churchill: A Life. London: BCA.
- James, Sir Robert Rhodes. Churchill: a Study in Failure 1900–1939. Pelican 1973. A sympathetic yet critical study.
- Jenkins, Roy. Churchill: A Biography. 2001
- Langworth, Richard, ed. Churchill in his own Words. Ebury Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-09-193336-4
- Manchester, William (1983). The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill; Visions of Glory: 1874–1932. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company.
- Manchester, William (1988). The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill; Alone: 1932–1940. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company.
- Pearson, John. Citadel of the Heart, Winston and the Churchill Dynasty. Pan (1993)
- Prior, Robin. Churchill's "World Crisis" as History Croom Helm (1983); ISBN 0-70992-011-3
- ISBN 978-02-97820-15-4.
- Roberts, Andrew. Churchill: Walking with Destiny (2018) pp 77–465.
- Rowland, P. Lloyd George. Barrie & Jenkins (1975)
- Taylor, A. J. P. Beaverbrook. Hamish Hamilton (1972)
- Toye, Richard, ed. Winston Churchill: Politics, Strategy and Statecraft (Bloomsbury, 2017).
External links
- Churchill's maiden speech, from Hansard, 18 February 1901.