September 4, 2009

The Great Debate
3 September 2009

Motion Proposed: Churchill was more of a liability then an asset to the free world.

Intelligence² audience confirms 1194 to 181 votes against the motion.

Does the fact that Winston Churchill is routinely cited as Britain’s greatest hero say more about us than it does about him? Yes, he warned us of the need to face down Hitler when others were urging appeasement and yes, he gave a good speech. But what of his tendency to initiate disastrous military campaigns – think of Gallipoli in World War I or Norway in World War II. What of the fact that his generals constantly had to restrain him from embarking on even more madcap ventures? Could it be that the British had – and still have – a deep need to lionise their war leader in order to disguise from themselves the relative insignificance of Britain’s contribution to defeating the Nazis in comparison with that of the Soviet Union or America? Is our refusal to diminish Churchill’s stature born of the fear that we may have to diminish our own?

The debate took place at: Methodist Central Hall Westminster.

Read full details here.

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