Winston Churchill: The Most Flexible Man In Britain

The Most Flexible Man In Britain: How Winston Churchill Guided England Through Both War and Freedom in Two Reigns

When historians discuss the achievements of Winston Churchill, they often discuss his brilliant speeches in front of parliament at the beginning of the Nazi invasion of France, or they talk about his steady hand leading Britain through the bombings of London and the conclusion of the war. What often isn’t discussed is the comparison between the responsibilities Churchill held throughout his first tenure during World War Two, and his duties during his second run as Prime Minister from 1951-1955. Out of Churchill’s many achievements, the highest one may be that for a few decades in the 20th century, he was the symbol of two different

In 1904, Churchill left the Conservative party and joined the Liberal party, and then switched back in 1925. Under other circumstances, he could have had trouble gaining back the support that he lost when he “party-ratted” (the Churchill Project), but when he was first elected in 1940, the country was in a state of crisis, and Churchill was well-prepared. Since the early-to-mid 1930’s, Churchill had his doubts about Adolf Hitler and Germany, partially due to his overall hatred of fascism or any sort of totalitarian government. This is shown in the book “Winston Churchill’s last campaign,” by John W. Young in the preface, where Young explains Churchill’s views and policies on different types of government as well as his thoughts on the League of Nations on page 7: “In Churchill’s opinion a totalitarian menace, whether it be Bolshevism or Nazism, would never respect international law or public opinion but only strength; unless the liberal states banded together and rearmed they would be forced to make concessions to aggressors and, ultimately, would have to fight from a weakened position” (Young, 7). This displays the early distrust that Churchill had in the idea of fascism and his foresight into the future Nazi takeover of Europe. This also shows his dedication to the security of his nation and how and after the election, all of his efforts were focused on stopping the

While this was kept a secret from the public for the majority of the time that he was suffering/recovering, many close to Churchill thought that those days may be his last, in preparation of this, there was a new plan of who would take over in the event that it was necessary. “Anthony Eden, the Foreign Secretary, was the obvious stand-in but was recuperating from gallstone surgery. So it was decided that if the old man did not pull through his close ally Lord Salisbury, the leader of the House of Lords, would take over the reins temporarily” (Express). While that ended up not being the case because of Churchill’s recovery, the power structure after the stroke was built incredibly differently than the previous setup from 1940-1945. Principal Private Secretary John Colville claimed to have made a substantial amount of decisions, however, there were special people chosen to accept responsibility. “Colville later wrote: ‘For the best part of a month my colleagues and I had to handle requests for decisions from ministers and government departments entirely ignorant of the prime minister's incapacity.’ In his absence hundreds of important decisions were taken by the mini-committee that was actually running the country” (Express). While Churchill was still able to speak in front of the nation, his mental state and decision-making ability clearly took a hit, as his