September 15, 2008

{tab=1923}
{slide=Spring 1923 (Age 48)}

“A Whale Among Minnows”

The first volume of Churchill’s war memoirs, The World Crisis, was published on 10 April. Its publication raised a great deal of tumult, adulation and criticism. The question was asked in the Commons whether it was proper for a former member of the government to profit from such a publication and the answer, forced from the Prime Minister, was “no.”

But the book received tremendous reviews. The Observer commented that “Mr. Churchill, when they attack him, defends himself. He does it with such an amplitude of evidence, and a panoply of proof and a general effect so wicked that his habitual accusers must regard his book as not only a misdemeanor, but an outrage… .Much the best of all war books on the British side.” The reviewer, J. L. Gavin, called the book “a whale among minnows.”

In America, The New York Times said: ‘Winston wanted to be a war wizard, and there he failed, but in the wizardry of words he is triumphant. Over his own vicissitudes he casts the spell… it is the spell of a calculated— sometimes an artificial … detachment… He makes no excuses… He avoids the querulous, the malicious, the jealous note… He does not pretend to have been consistent. Good, bad or indifferent, he gives his reasons for whatever was done or left undone. The reasons are those noted at the time… there is no wisdom after the event. It is clever. It is masterful. But it is also Churchill … Churchill is too interesting for real sagacity.”

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While people talked about Churchill’s book, they also discussed his political future. His career, like those of the rest of the ex-Coalition leaders, had reached a crisis, but the others—Birkenhead, Balfour, Austen Chamberlain, Lloyd George—had seats in Parliament. Churchill was disenchanted with Lloyd George and his sympathies were dearly with the Conservatives. He told Sir Robert Horne, a leading Conservative, “I am what I have always been—a Tory Democrat. Force of circumstance has compelled me to serve with another party, but my views have never changed, and I should be glad to give effect to them by rejoining the Conservatives!’

In May he spoke on “The Political Scene from a Distance” to an Aldwych Club luncheon in London. He was critical of Conservative leader Andrew Bonar Law for breaking up the coalition particularly when he did not see an appreciable difference in the policies of the Bonar Law administration from its predecessor. (Churchill was unaware of the seriousness of Law’s illness): “The present Government is using up very rapidly the prestige of Conservatism. I am astonished to see the rate at which their credit has declined. I would not have believed it possible that in six months a new, homogeneous Administration could have lost so much in public esteem. In two years, perhaps in less, the Government may collapse..It will be said on every side, ‘The Coalition was tried; it was unpopular. The Tories have tried, they have failed. The Liberals are still quarrelling among themselves. Now it is the turn of the Labour Party. Let them have their chance.”’
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{slide=Summer 1923 (Age 48)}
In May Stanley Baldwin replaced the dying Andrew Bonar Law as Prime Minister. While his family holidayed at Cromer on the North Sea, Churchill spent the summer at Sussex Square working on the second volume of The World Crisis, with periodic excursions to supervise the renovation of Chartwell. While there he lived at a rented house, Hosey Rigge (which he immediately nicknamed “Cozy Pig”), on the WesterWesterham Road. After her return, Clementine suffered a throat infection so she stayed at Hosey Rigge while Churchill rested in the Mediterranean aboard the yacht of his wealthy friend the Duke of Westminister.

Clementine later told Martin Gilbert that she did not want to go to Chartwell “but Winston had his heart set on it.” She did not wish to leave London and she doubted the family could afford the costs of renovation and maintenance. But Churchill wrote her from the Duke’s yacht:

“My beloved, I do beg you not to worry about money, or to feel insecureŠChartwell is to be our homeŠWe must endeavour to live there for many years and hand it over to Randolph afterwards.” He outlined how he intended to make the necessary money by serving as a consultant with oil companies and writing, primarily the latter. Furthermore, he was confident that “if we go into office we will live in Downing Street!” (Both the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer reside there. He would eventually hold both offices.)

On 14 August he went to see the Prime Minister. To Clementine he wrote; “I entered Downing Street by the Treasury entrance to avoid comment. This much amused Baldwin. However Max [Lord Beaverbrook] rang up this morning to say he hoped I had had a pleasant interview and that I had greatly heartened the PM about the Ruhr! He is a little ferret.”
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{slide=Autumn  1923 (Age 49)}

Country Gentleman

Back in England from a cruise on the Duke of Westminster’s yacht,Churchill reflected, “I am very content to have for the first time in my life a little rest, and leisure to look after my own affairs, build my house and cultivate my garden.”

His primary focus was on the second volume of The World Crisis. The periodicals were full of pros and cons about his first volume. Everyone who had participated in the War seemed to want to get a word in. The Morning Post venomously said that Churchill “is mentally incapable of realizing the truth or anything like it” but most reviews were favourable. Stanley Baldwin probably summed up the feelings of Churchill’s colleagues: “If I could write as you do, I should never bother about making speeches.” Baldwin would live to hear Churchill’s immortal speeches of 1940 and 1941.

On the issue of tariffs, Baldwin called an election for December 6. Churchill answered the call to fight Protection as a Liberal. He beat the Conservative but came second to the Labour candidate who had advocated a special tax on high incomes.

Even his Conservative opponents regretted his defeat. “I was at the Carlton Club that foggy Election night,” wrote his aunt. “When your poll was announced, there was a grim silence and stodgy Lord Middle-ton, who was sitting next to me, said, ‘Well, I am genuinely sorry. We wanted Winston in the House of Commons.”’

His other battle at this time was a libel suit against Lord Alfred Douglas who had accused him of manipulating the stock market during the Battle of Jutland. His victory over Douglas was celebrated by his friends who also encouraged him to continue his efforts to reenter Parliament. “You must get back to the House,” wrote one. “The outlook is dark and troubled; the country will need your energy and vision.”
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{tab=1924}
{slide=Winter 1923-24 (Age 49)}

Out of Office, Opposing Socialists

On 6 December 1923, Churchill lost the West Leicester by-election, his last campaign as a Liberal and the last he would wage on the issue of free trade, the same issue over which he left the Tories for the Liberals in 1904. Churchill pulled no punches in the campaign, belying the claim of his enemies that he was currying favor with the Conservatives in order to foster a return to their ranks. If that were his purpose, Churchill would not have attacked the Tory Leader Stanley Baldwin in so personal a way. In a speech given 26 November 1923, he had compared Baldwin to “the March Hare an