Who was Winston Churchill?
Blenheim Palace was where Winston Churchill was born, in 1874. He served as a cavalry officer and reported on wars before he won a Commons seat for the Conservatives in 1900. In 1904 he switched to the Liberals and held senior posts, including head of the Navy as First Lord of the Admiralty. By the 1920s he was back with the Conservatives and became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1924. In the 1930s he sat outside government and warned against appeasing Hitler. He became Prime Minister in May 1940, leading an all-party coalition. Attlee beat him in 1945, but he returned in 1951 and retired in 1955. He also wrote major works of history.
Political views
- In May 1940 he set out his policy to MPs: fight Nazi Germany with all the nation's strength and keep going until victory.Source: api.parliament.uk
- Resisted moves to give India self-rule during the 1930s. This put him at odds with much of his own party.Source: gov.uk
- As Chancellor in 1925 he put Britain back on the Gold Standard, a choice that economists and historians still argue over.Source: gov.uk
- Warned in his 1946 Fulton speech that an iron curtain had come down across Europe, and called for a close bond with the Americans.Source: winstonchurchill.org
- Backed a European union of sorts in a 1946 Zurich speech, with France and Germany working together at its core.Source: winstonchurchill.org
- His government of 1951-1955 kept the welfare state that Labour had created, and did little new at home.Source: gov.uk
Legacy
Admirers say Churchill's leadership and speeches kept Britain fighting in 1940 and helped shape the Western alliance after the war. He won the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature for his historical writing and speeches. Critics list the Gallipoli disaster, the return to gold and his fight against Indian independence. They also condemn his imperial outlook more widely, and argue about British policy during the Bengal famine of 1943. Historians of all leanings treat him as one of the twentieth century's most important and most disputed figures, and arguments about him continue.
In their own words
“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”