May 8, 2015

Finest Hour 111, Summer 2001

Page 34

On 31 May 1903, Churchill entered the House, bowed to the Speaker and, glancing at the Tory benches, took a seat next to Lloyd George with the Liberal opposition. These are the first two documents after that date in Winston S. Churchill, Companion Volume II, Part 1 1901-1907, edited by Randolph S. Churchill, London: Heinemann, 1969.

WSC to Lord Hugh Cecil (Quickswood Papers) 2 June 1904

My dear Linky,

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…I could not help thinking last night what a wrench it is to me to break with all that glittering hierarchy & how carefully one must organise one’s system of thought to be utterly independent of it. The worst of it is that as the Free Trade issue subsides it leaves my personal ambitions naked & stranded on the beach — & they are an ugly & unsatisfactory spectacle by themselves, though nothing but an advantage when borne forward with the flood of a great outside cause.

Yours always
WINSTON SC

WSC to? [Probably a constituent] 9 June 1904

Dear Sir,

It is my intention during the remainder of the present Parliament to vote as far as possible according to the merits of the various questions upon which divisions are taken. When I think that the government are in the right I shall support them, when I think they are in the wrong I shall vote against them. You will see therefore that it is not possible for me to answer definitely your questions as to the ‘arithmetical’ effect upon the Government majority which will result from my occupying a position on the Liberal benches. That partly depends upon the conduct of the Government & partly on the conduct of the Opposition; but I should add that I am strongly of opinion that a general election should take place at the earliest possible moment in the interests both of Parliament & of the country & that this consideration will necessarily weigh with me in deciding how to vote on any particular occasion.

Yours faithfully,
WINSTON S. CHURCHILL