Caddick-Adams Winston Churchill

The Prime Ministers Series
1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-1-80075-356-3
Verlag: Swift Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 176 Seiten

Reihe: The Prime Ministers

'An excellent summation of the life and times of Winston Churchill' Andrew Roberts 'Caddick-Adams understands the two world wars, and his subject's role in them, superbly' Simon Heffer, New Statesman 'A witty and enjoyable political biography of Winston Churchill ... Brilliantly done' The Past In Winston Churchill, veteran historian Peter Caddick-Adams gives us an overview of Churchill's life, from his early days as a soldier and part-time journalist through to the Second World War and beyond. Caddick-Adams argues that the recipe for Churchill's success during his wartime premiership of 1940-45 can be found in the First World War. The nation, and its leaders, had undergone a 'dress rehearsal' in 1914-18: conscription, rationing, convoys, air raids, mass production, women's uniformed services, coalitions and war cabinets had all happened before, and Churchill had been there when they did. This experience, combined with Churchill's extraordinary abilities (along with some foibles), were what enabled Britain to survive. READER REVIEWS - 'A fantastic brief biography of Churchill, incredibly well written, researched and presented' - 'An excellent introduction to Churchill's life' - 'Caddick-Adams presents a rich and insightful portrait of one of history's most iconic figures, making this a must-read for anyone interested in Churchill's legacy' - 'Nimbly covers the extent of his remarkable life, providing marvellous detail'

Peter Caddick-Adams is a writer and broadcaster who specialises in military history, defence and security issues. He previously lectured in Military and Security Studies at the UK Defence Academy for twenty years, and in Air Power for the Royal Air Force. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Geographical Society, he also spent thirty-five years as an officer in the UK Regular and Reserve Forces, and has extensive experience of various war zones, including the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan. His previous works include Snow and Steel: Battle of the Bulge 1944-45 and 1945: Victory in the West.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Caddick-Adams, Peter

Leseproben

Foreword

Over twenty-seven years ago I entered the chamber of the House of Commons for the first time as a Member of Parliament. Full of elan and no doubt misguided confidence, I joined a small coterie of Conservative MPs who had survived the trenches against the Blair onslaught of May 1997 to sit on the subsequently heavily depopulated Opposition benches.

But the Commons is a great leveller. There will always be someone with more confidence than you and, more to the point, many someones with every reason to be. Thus it was, I am sure, a twenty-five-year-old Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill strode an identical route to park himself on the green benches after the 1900 general election more boldly than this thirty-four-year-old ninety-seven years later. This was, after all, the genesis of a political career which promised much and of which much was expected. As the Church Family Newspaper put it: ‘Such a man as Winston Churchill must climb very high up the ladder of life. The world wants such men. They make history, they influence men’s minds, they carry conviction.’

The layout of the chamber Churchill occupied has changed little, although it was completely rebuilt after the Luftwaffe rained terror on the Palace of Westminster, culminating in the firestorm of 10 May 1941. It is largely down to the force of nature which was Churchill himself. In October 1943 the then Prime Minister moved a motion which proposed setting up a select committee of the House to report on the rebuilding of the chamber and the damaged sections of the Commons. He was adamant it should be ‘restored in all essentials to its old form, convenience and dignity’. After all, he contended: ‘We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us.’

He insisted the shape continue to be oblong rather than semicircular, distrustful of the semicircular assembly, ‘which appeals to political theorists, enables every individual or every group to move round the centre, adopting various shades of pink according as the weather changes’. Perhaps with more than a hint of conceit, let alone melodrama, he railed against logic, which, having

created in so many countries semicircular assemblies which have buildings which give to every Member not only a seat to sit in but often a desk to write at, with a lid to bang, has proved fatal to Parliamentary Government as we know it here in its home and in the land of its birth.

Thus Churchill impressed upon the select committee, yet to be formed, a second condition: the chamber should be small and intimate, with no prospect of sufficient seating allocated to every member. He warned: ‘If the House is big enough to contain all its members, nine-tenths of its debates will be conducted in the depressing atmosphere of an almost empty or half-empty Chamber. The essence of good House of Commons speaking is the conversational style, the facility for quick, informal interruptions and interchanges.’

Unsurprisingly, Churchill got his way. A select committee was formed under the Father of the House, Lord Winterton, who also held the distinction of once having been the ‘Baby of the House’, having been first elected at the age of twenty-one, even younger than Churchill. The select committee reported in January 1945. Churchill’s ‘brief’ about size and shape was respected, and the new plan designed by architect Giles Gilbert Scott provided for 427 seats (give or take, depending on the size of respective members’ posterior dimensions on the long benches) for the then 640 elected members. Clearance of the site began in May 1945, and the new chamber was officially opened in the presence of King George VI, on 26 October 1950.

As if the rebuilding being in the image so advocated by Churchill was not enough, colleagues were left in no doubt about the huge impression he made on the place when the arch connecting the Members’ Lobby with the chamber became known as the ‘Churchill Arch’. The original had been built by Sir Charles Barry following the rebuilding after the catastrophic fire of 1834. Churchill suggested the archway be rebuilt from the original damaged stonework, symbolising continuity, but also preserved as a ‘Monument to the Ordeal’ which the Palace of Westminster had been subjected to during the Blitz.

One thing the new boy Churchill was not confronted with when first taking his seat in 1900 was the larger-than-life bronze statue of himself designed by Oscar Nemon. It was placed on the vacant pedestal on the left-hand side of the arch in 1969, four years after the great man’s death. Less still would he have been intimidated by the even larger bronze statue of Margaret Thatcher installed thirty-eight years later and which occupies the other side of the Members’ Lobby. Both appear to dominate the rather less ostentatious bronzes of Lloyd George and Attlee, which complete the pedestal quartet in the lobby.

There is a tradition that former Prime Ministers do not qualify for a full-size statue until after their deaths. However, I remember well being in attendance for the unveiling of the Thatcher pointy bronze by sculptor Antony Dufort in February 2007, six years before her death. Standing behind the great lady herself, I heard her declare: ‘I might have preferred iron, but bronze will do. It won’t rust.’

Today there is a sign at the base of the Churchill statue exhorting visitors to refrain from touching. The reason – toe damage. Visitors, along with a few members, have traditionally rubbed the foot of their favourite statue on entering the chamber, for good luck. Such was his popularity that on more than one occasion the protruding left foot of the great man has had to be restored.

So, any new member coming into the House of Commons chamber cannot escape the huge influence Churchill has had on our workplace. Though it may now be almost sixty years after his death, you walk through his arch, under his gaze, and then you battle to secure one of the reduced number of seats on the benches in the intimate adversarial-style chamber he advocated. And if that isn’t enough, being pointed at by Mrs Thatcher on your way is a further reminder that you walk in the footsteps of parliamentary giants.

What on earth could you possibly say or do to match that? In his briefly interrupted parliamentary career between his maiden speech on 18 February 1901 and his retirement as an MP on 27 July 1964, over nine years after stepping down as Prime Minister, Churchill has no fewer than 29,232 entries recorded in Hansard, the Parliamentary record. This includes, of course, the famous, epoch-defining ‘blood, toil, tears and sweat’ and ‘Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms which have been tried from time to time’, masterpieces from the Dispatch Box. His lethally witty one-liners are difficult to equal. Take the description of his Labour opponent Clem Attlee as ‘a modest man who has a good deal to be modest about’.

There are few places in the Palace of Westminster where Churchill doesn’t feature. The Churchill Room, with its rather smaller but no less impressive bust overlooking diners, is one of the smarter function rooms, while in Westminster Hall his name is etched in brass for posterity. The inscription marks the spot where Churchill’s coffin lay in state for three days, with over 320,000 members of the public filing past to pay their respects. As Edward Bacon in the Illustrated London News described them, they had the ‘mesmeric effect of a river flowing past’.

Churchill was one of only three Prime Ministers accorded the honour of a state funeral, the others being Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, and the Liberal veteran William Ewart Gladstone. While Wellington lay in state at the Royal Military Hospital, Chelsea, Gladstone and Churchill took centre stage in the huge Westminster Hall built by the son of the Conqueror, William II, and completed in 1097. It is a magnificent hall, at its genesis the largest building in Europe, and has survived the great fire of 1834, IRA bombs and the Blitz. From there Churchill’s body was taken aboard a gun carriage to a state funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral.

Westminster Hall is literally a place full of great history. By day it is bustling with visitors and staff going about their business as the main entry point to the Palace of Westminster. But by night, as I often take a detour after working late, when it is usually completely deserted, you really get a sense of the great figures of history who occupied the space in centuries past, dead and alive. Other than for Churchill and Gladstone, brass plaques also mark the locations of the catafalques where the late Queen lay in state, along with her parents and grandparents.

Recorded too is the spot where King Charles I was tried for treason and subsequently condemned to beheading in 1649. The same fate befell Henry VIII’s Lord High Chancellor Thomas More in 1535, while the first governor general of Bengal, Warren Hastings, is one of the few to have stood trial in Westminster Hall and kept his head. I often take groups of visiting parliamentarians from around the world on tours of the Palace of Westminster, starting in Westminster Hall. Despite my best efforts to bring the great history of our workplace to life, waxing lyrical about the relevance of the Civil War, which led to a republic following the King’s execution, or the break with Rome because of Henry VIII’s libido, it is invariably the stop at the Churchill plaque which garners the most interest and name recognition.

His spirit is with us in the bars too. George Bernard Shaw’s verdict on Parliament is also perhaps most fitting for Churchill...