February 10, 2015

In November 1913, Austen Chamberlain visited Churchill aboard the Admiralty yacht Enchantress, and then wrote a long memorandum to Bonar Law on their discussions. Churchill had told him that Ulster would never be allowed to veto Home Rule for Ireland but he did not exclude the possibility of separate treatment for Ulster.

“A little red blood had to flow and then public opinion would wake up.”

Churchill believed that public opinion required a shock to force a solution to the impasse. “Both sides had to make speeches full of party claptrap and no surrender, and then insert a few sentences at the end for the wise and discerning on the other side to see and ponder. A little red blood had to flow and then public opinion would wake up.”

Chamberlain was left the impression that Winston genuinely wanted a settlement but had no clear idea how to get it.

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In March Churchill addressed 3,000 people in Bradford and outlined the Government’s offer whereby any county could exclude itself from Home Rule for six years by a majority vote in that county.

Even Churchill’s friends were concerned about the size of his Naval Estimates. Margot Asquith wrote Lloyd George: “Don’t let Winston have too much money – it will hurt our party in every way – Labour and even Liberals. If one can’t be a little economical when all foreign countries are peaceful I don’t know when they can.”

In December Churchill proposed to the Cabinet an increase which permitted four battleships and twelve destroyers. He also wanted to purchase greater reserves of oil plus an additional 5,000 nwn. Asquith complained that of a three-hour Cabinet meeting, 23A hours of the peroid were occupied by Winston.

It was clear that Churchill was facing strong opposition within the Cabinet on both his naval estimates and Ulster. Lloyd George thought there was an attempt “to down Winston” by driving him from the Cabinet. Some believed that Churchill had “lost all touch with Liberalism and had become a man of one idea” since he went to the Admirality.

By the new year Lloyd George had become one of the principal opponents to increased naval expenditures. Churchill’s problems were compounded by news from the Canadian Prime Minister that he could no longer promise the contribution of three dreadnoughts.

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