Winston Churchill - wikipedia Winston Churchill `` Churchill '' redirects here. For other uses, see Churchill ( disambiguation ) and Winston Churchill ( disambiguation ). The Right Honourable Sir Winston Churchill KG OM CH TD DL FRS RA Winston Churchill in the Canadian Parliament, December 1941 by Yousuf Karsh Prime Minister of the United Kingdom In office 26 October 1951 -- 7 April 1955 Monarch George VI Elizabeth II Deputy Anthony Eden Preceded by Clement Attlee Succeeded by Anthony Eden In office 10 May 1940 -- 26 July 1945 Monarch George VI Deputy Clement Attlee Preceded by Neville Chamberlain Succeeded by Clement Attlee Leadership positions Leader of the Opposition In office 26 July 1945 -- 26 October 1951 Monarch George VI Prime Minister Clement Attlee Preceded by Clement Attlee Succeeded by Clement Attlee Leader of the Conservative Party In office 9 November 1940 -- 6 April 1955 Preceded by Neville Chamberlain Succeeded by Anthony Eden Ministerial offices 1939 -- 1952 Minister of Defence In office 28 October 1951 -- 1 March 1952 Preceded by Manny Shinwell Succeeded by Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis In office 10 May 1940 -- 26 July 1945 Preceded by Ernle Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield ( Coordination of Defence ) Succeeded by Clement Attlee First Lord of the Admiralty In office 3 September 1939 -- 11 May 1940 Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain Preceded by James Stanhope, 7th Earl Stanhope Succeeded by A.V. Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Hillsborough Ministerial offices 1908 -- 1929 Chancellor of the Exchequer In office 6 November 1924 -- 4 June 1929 Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin Preceded by Philip Snowden Succeeded by Philip Snowden Secretary of State for the Colonies In office 13 February 1921 -- 19 October 1922 Prime Minister David Lloyd George Preceded by Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner Succeeded by Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire Secretary of State for Air In office 10 January 1919 -- 13 February 1921 Prime Minister David Lloyd George Preceded by William Weir, 1st Viscount Weir Succeeded by Frederick Guest Secretary of State for War In office 10 January 1919 -- 13 February 1921 Prime Minister David Lloyd George Preceded by Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner Succeeded by Laming Worthington - Evans Minister of Munitions In office 17 July 1917 -- 10 January 1919 Prime Minister David Lloyd George Preceded by Christopher Addison Succeeded by Andrew Weir, 1st Baron Inverforth Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster In office 25 May 1915 -- 25 November 1915 Prime Minister H.H. Asquith Preceded by Edwin Samuel Montagu Succeeded by Herbert Samuel First Lord of the Admiralty In office 24 October 1911 -- 25 May 1915 Prime Minister H.H. Asquith Preceded by Reginald McKenna Succeeded by Arthur Balfour Home Secretary In office 19 February 1910 -- 24 October 1911 Prime Minister H.H. Asquith Preceded by Herbert Gladstone Succeeded by Reginald McKenna President of the Board of Trade In office 12 April 1908 -- 14 February 1910 Prime Minister H.H. Asquith Preceded by David Lloyd George Succeeded by Sydney Buxton Constituencies represented Member of Parliament for Woodford In office 5 July 1945 -- 15 October 1964 Preceded by Constituency established Succeeded by Constituency abolished Member of Parliament for Epping In office 29 October 1924 -- 5 July 1945 Preceded by Leonard Lyle Succeeded by Leah Manning Member of Parliament for Dundee In office 24 April 1908 -- 15 November 1922 Serving with Alexander Wilkie Preceded by Edmund Robertson Alexander Wilkie Succeeded by Edwin Scrymgeour E.D. Morel Member of Parliament for Manchester North West In office 8 February 1906 -- 24 April 1908 Preceded by William Houldsworth Succeeded by William Joynson - Hicks Member of Parliament for Oldham In office 24 October 1900 -- 12 January 1906 Preceded by Walter Runciman Succeeded by John Albert Bright Personal details Winston Leonard Spencer - Churchill ( 1874 - 11 - 30 ) 30 November 1874 Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England 24 January 1965 ( 1965 - 01 - 24 ) ( aged 90 ) Kensington, London, England Resting place St Martin 's Church, Bladon Political party Conservative ( 1900 -- 1904, 1924 -- 1964 ) Liberal ( 1904 -- 1924 ) Spouse ( s ) Clementine Hozier ( m. 1908 ) Children Diana Randolph Sarah Marigold Mary Parents Lord Randolph Churchill Jennie Jerome Education Harrow School Royal Military College, Sandhurst Signature Military service Allegiance United Kingdom Service / branch British Army Territorial Army Years of service 1895 -- 1900 1900 -- 1924 Rank See list Commands 6th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers Battles / wars Mahdist War Second Boer War First World War Awards See list Sir Winston Leonard Spencer - Churchill ( 30 November 1874 -- 24 January 1965 ) was a British politician, army officer, and writer, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. As Prime Minister, Churchill led Britain to victory in the Second World War. Churchill represented five constituencies during his career as Member of Parliament ( MP ). Ideologically an economic liberal and British imperialist, he began and ended his parliamentary career as a member of the Conservative Party, which he led from 1940 to 1955, but for twenty years from 1904 he was a prominent member of the Liberal Party. Born in Oxfordshire to an aristocratic family, Churchill was a son of Lord Randolph Churchill and Jennie Jerome. Joining the British Army, he saw action in British India, the Anglo -- Sudan War, and the Second Boer War, gaining fame as a war correspondent and writing books about his campaigns. Elected an MP in 1900, initially as a Conservative, he defected to the Liberals in 1904. In H.H. Asquith 's Liberal government, Churchill served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary, and First Lord of the Admiralty, championing prison reform and workers ' social security. During the First World War, he oversaw the Gallipoli Campaign ; after it proved a disaster, he resigned from government and served in the Royal Scots Fusiliers on the Western Front. In 1917 he returned to government under David Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions, and was subsequently Secretary of State for War, Secretary of State for Air, then Secretary of State for the Colonies. After two years out of Parliament, he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Stanley Baldwin 's Conservative government, returning the pound sterling in 1925 to the gold standard at its pre-war parity, a move widely seen as creating deflationary pressure on the UK economy. Out of office during the 1930s, Churchill took the lead in calling for British rearmament to counter the growing threat from Nazi Germany. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he was re-appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain 's resignation in 1940, Churchill replaced him. Churchill oversaw British involvement in the Allied war effort, resulting in victory in 1945. His wartime response to the 1943 Bengal famine, which claimed an estimated three million lives, has caused controversy, and he sanctioned the 1945 bombing of Dresden, which claimed twenty to thirty thousand lives and continues to be debated. After the Conservatives ' defeat in the 1945 general election, he became Leader of the Opposition. Amid the developing Cold War with the Soviet Union, he publicly warned of an `` iron curtain '' of Soviet influence in Europe and promoted European unity. He was re-elected prime minister in the 1951 election. His second term was preoccupied with foreign affairs, including the Malayan Emergency, Mau Mau Uprising, Korean War and a UK - backed Iranian coup. Domestically his government emphasised house - building and developed an atomic bomb. In declining health, Churchill resigned as prime minister in 1955, although he remained an MP until 1964. Upon his death in 1965, he was given a state funeral. Widely considered one of the 20th century 's most significant figures, Churchill remains popular in the UK and Western world, where he is seen as a victorious wartime leader who played an important role in defending liberal democracy from the spread of fascism. Also praised as a social reformer and writer, among his many awards was the Nobel Prize in Literature. Conversely, his imperialist views -- coupled with his sanctioning of human rights abuses in the suppression of anti-imperialist movements seeking independence from the British Empire -- have generated considerable controversy. Contents 1 Early life 1.1 Childhood and schooling : 1874 -- 1895 1.2 Cuba, India, and Sudan : 1895 -- 1899 1.3 Attempts at a Parliamentary career and South Africa : 1899 -- 1900 2 Early political career 2.1 Early years in Parliament : 1900 -- 1905 2.2 Under - Secretary of State for the Colonies : 1905 -- 1908 2.3 President of the Board of Trade : 1908 -- 1910 2.4 Home Secretary : 1910 -- 1911 2.5 First Lord of the Admiralty : 1911 -- 1915 2.5. 1 First World War 2.6 On the Western Front : 1915 -- 1916 2.7 Return to Parliament 2.8 Constitutionalist 2.9 Rejoining the Conservative Party 2.9. 1 Chancellor of the Exchequer : 1924 -- 1929 2.10 Political isolation 2.10. 1 Indian independence 2.10. 2 German and Italian rearmament and conflicts in Manchuria and Abyssinia 2.10. 3 Germany and rearmament : 1936 2.10. 4 Abdication crisis 3 Return from exile 3.1 Return to the Admiralty 4 First term as prime minister : 1940 -- 1945 4.1 `` We shall never surrender '' 4.2 Mental and physical health 4.3 Relations with the United States 4.4 Relations with the Soviet Union 4.5 Role in Bengal famine 4.6 Dresden bombings controversy 4.7 End of the Second World War 4.8 Syria crisis 5 In opposition : 1945 -- 1951 5.1 Caretaker government and 1945 election 5.2 Opposition leader 5.2. 1 European unity 6 Second term as prime minister : 1951 -- 1955 6.1 Return to government 6.1. 1 Domestic policy 6.2 Colonial affairs 6.2. 1 Kenya and Malaya 6.3 Relations with the US and the quest for a summit 6.4 Stroke and resignation 7 Retirement and death : 1955 -- 1965 7.1 Funeral 8 Artist, historian, and writer 9 Political ideology 9.1 Links to political parties 10 Personal life 10.1 Marriage and children 10.2 Relationship with Lady Castlerosse 10.3 Religion 10.4 Pets and animals 11 Honours 11.1 Military ranks and appointments 12 Reputation and legacy 12.1 Cultural depictions 13 See also 14 References 14.1 Notes 14.2 Sources 15 Further reading 15.1 Primary sources 15.2 Secondary sources 16 External links 16.1 Bibliographies and online collections 16.2 Programmes about Churchill 16.3 Recordings 16.4 Museums, archives and libraries Early life Childhood and schooling : 1874 -- 1895 Blenheim Palace, Churchill 's ancestral home and the place of his birth Churchill was born at the family 's ancestral home, Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, on 30 November 1874, at which time the United Kingdom was the dominant world power. A direct descendant of the Dukes of Marlborough, his family were among the highest levels of the British aristocracy, and thus he was born into the country 's governing elite. His paternal grandfather, John Spencer - Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough, had been a Member of Parliament ( MP ) for ten years, a member of the Conservative Party who served in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. His own father, Lord Randolph Churchill, had been elected Conservative MP for Woodstock in 1873. His mother, Jennie Churchill ( née Jerome ), was from an American family whose substantial wealth derived from finance. The couple had met in August 1873, and were engaged three days later, marrying at the British Embassy in Paris in April 1874. The couple lived beyond their income and were frequently in debt ; according to the biographer Sebastian Haffner, the family were `` rich by normal standards but poor by those of the rich ''. Churchill, aged six, in 1881 In 1876 John Spencer - Churchill was appointed Viceroy of Ireland, with Randolph as his private secretary, resulting in the Churchill family 's relocation to Dublin, when the entirety of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom. It was here that Jennie 's second son, Jack, was born in 1880 ; there has been speculation that Randolph was not his biological father. Throughout much of the 1880s Randolph and Jennie were effectively estranged, during which she had many suitors. Churchill had virtually no relationship with his father ; referring to his mother, Churchill later stated that `` I loved her dearly -- but at a distance. '' His relationship with Jack would be warm, and they were close at various points in their lives. In Dublin, he was educated in reading and mathematics by a governess, while he and his brother were cared for primarily by their nanny, Elizabeth Ann Everest. Churchill was devoted to her and nicknamed her `` Woomany '' ; he later wrote that `` She had been my dearest and most intimate friend during the whole of the twenty years I had lived. '' Aged seven, he began boarding at St. George 's School in Ascot, Berkshire ; he hated it, did poorly academically, and regularly misbehaved. Visits home were to Connaught Place in London, where his parents had settled, while they also took him on his first foreign holiday, to Gastein in Austria - Hungary. As a result of poor health, in September 1884 he moved to Brunswick School in Hove ; there, his academic performance improved but he continued to misbehave. He narrowly passed the entrance exam which allowed him to begin studies at the elite Harrow School in April 1888. There, his academics remained high -- he excelled particularly in history -- but teachers complained that he was unpunctual and careless. He wrote poetry and letters which were published in the school magazine, Harrovian, and won a fencing competition. His father insisted that he be prepared for a career in the military, and so Churchill 's last three years at Harrow were spent in the army form. He performed poorly in most of his exams. On a holiday to Bournemouth in January 1893, he fell and was knocked unconscious for three days. In March he took a job at a cram school in Lexham Gardens, South Kensington, before holidaying in Switzerland and Italy that summer. He made three attempts to be admitted to the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, only succeeding on the third. There, he was accepted as a cadet in the cavalry, starting his education in September 1893. In August 1894 he and his brother holidayed in Belgium, and he spent free time in London, joining protests at the closing of the Empire Theatre, which he had frequented. His Sandhurst education lasted for 15 months ; he graduated in December 1894. Shortly after Churchill finished at Sandhurst, in January 1895, his father died ; this led Churchill to adopt the belief that members of his family inevitably died young. Cuba, India, and Sudan : 1895 -- 1899 Churchill in the military dress uniform of the Fourth Queen 's Own Hussars at Aldershot in 1895. In February 1895, Churchill was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 4th Queen 's Own Hussars regiment of the British Army, based at Aldershot. This position earned him a wage of £ 150 a year, which was far outstripped by his expenditure. In July, he rushed to Crouch Hill, North London to sit with Everest as she lay dying, subsequently organising her funeral. Churchill was eager to witness military action and used his mother 's influence to try to get himself posted to a warzone. In the autumn of 1895, he and Reginald Barnes traveled to Cuba to observe its war of independence ; they joined Spanish troops attempting to suppress independence fighters and were caught up in several skirmishes. In North America, he also spent time in New York City, staying with the wealthy politician Bourke Cockran at the latter 's Fifth Avenue residence ; Cockran profoundly influenced the young Churchill. Churchill admired the United States, writing to his brother that it was `` a very great country '' and telling his mother `` what an extraordinary people the Americans are ! '' With the Hussars, Churchill arrived in Bombay, British India, in October 1896. They were soon transferred to Bangalore, where he shared a bungalow with Barnes. Describing India as a `` godless land of snobs and bores '', Churchill remained posted there for 19 months, during the course of which he made three visits to Calcutta, expeditions to Hyderabad and the North West Frontier, and two visits back to Britain. Believing himself poorly educated, he began a project of self - education, reading the work of Plato, Adam Smith, Charles Darwin, and Henry Hallam. Most influential for him were however Edward Gibbon 's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Winwood Reade 's The Martyrdom of Man, and the writings of Thomas Babington Macaulay. Keenly interested in British parliamentary affairs, in a private letter he declared himself `` a Liberal in all but name '', but added that he could never endorse the Liberal Party 's support for Irish home rule. Instead, he allied himself to the Tory democracy wing of the Conservative Party, and on a visit home gave his first public speech for the Conservative 's Primrose League in Bath. Reflecting a mix of reformist and conservative perspectives, he supported the promotion of secular, non-denominational education while opposing women 's suffrage, referring to the Suffragettes as `` a ridiculous movement ''. A depiction of the Battle of Omdurman ; in the battle, Churchill took part in a cavalry charge Churchill decided to join the Malakand Field Force led by Bindon Blood in its campaign against Mohmand rebels in the Swat Valley of Northwest India. Blood agreed on the condition that Churchill be assigned as a journalist ; to ensure this, he gained accreditation from The Pioneer and The Daily Telegraph, for whom he wrote regular updates. In letters to family, he described how both sides in the conflict slaughtered each other 's wounded, although he omitted any reference to such actions by British troops in his published reports. He remained with the British troops for six weeks before returning to Bangalore in October 1897. There, he wrote his first book, The Story of the Malakand Field Force, which was published by Longman to largely positive reviews. He also wrote his only work of fiction, Savrola, a roman à clef set in an imagined Balkan kingdom. It was serialised in Macmillan 's Magazine between May -- December 1899 before appearing in book form. While staying in Bangalore in the first half of 1898, Churchill explored the possibility of joining Herbert Kitchener 's military campaign in the Sudan. Kitchener was initially reticent, claiming that Churchill was simply seeking publicity and medals. After spending time in Calcutta, Meerut, and Peshawar, Churchill sailed back to England from Bombay in June. There, he used his contacts -- including a visit to the Prime Minister Lord Salisbury at 10 Downing Street -- to get himself assigned to Kitchener 's campaign. He agreed that he would write a column describing the events for The Morning Post. He sailed for Egypt, where he joined the 21st Lancers at Cairo before they headed south along the River Nile to take part in the Battle of Omdurman against the army of Sudanese leader Abdallahi ibn Muhammad. Churchill was critical of Kitchener 's actions during the war, particularly the latter 's unmerciful treatment of enemy wounded and his desecration of Muhammad Ahmad 's tomb in Omdurman. Following the battle, Churchill gave skin from his chest for a graft for an injured officer. Back in England by October, Churchill wrote an account of the campaign, published as The River War in November 1899. Attempts at a parliamentary career and South Africa : 1899 -- 1900 Churchill in the Lower House of the Houses of Parliament in 1900. Deciding that he wanted a parliamentary career, Churchill pursued political contacts and gave addresses at three Conservative Party meetings. It was also at this point that he courted Pamela Plowden, later Countess of Lytton ; although a relationship did not ensue, they remained lifelong friends. In December he returned to India for three months, largely to indulge his love of the game polo. While in Calcutta, he stayed for a week in the home of Viceroy George Nathaniel Curzon. On the journey home, he spent two weeks at the Savoy Hotel in Cairo, where he was introduced to the Khedive Abbas II, before arriving in England in April. He refocused his attention on politics, addressing further Conservative meetings and networking at events such as a Rothschild 's dinner party. He was selected as one of the two Conservative parliamentary candidates at the June 1899 by - election in Oldham, Lancashire. Although the Oldham seats had previously been held by the Conservatives, the election was a narrow Liberal victory. Anticipating the outbreak of the Second Boer War between Britain and the Boer Republics, Churchill sailed from Southampton to South Africa as a journalist writing for the Daily Mail and Morning Post. From Cape Town, in October he travelled to the conflict zone near Ladysmith, then besieged by Boer troops, before spending time at Estcourt before heading for Colenso. After his train was derailed by Boer artillery shelling, he was captured as a prisoner of war and interned in a Boer POW camp in Pretoria. In December, Churchill and two other inmates escaped the prison over the latrine wall. Churchill stowed aboard a freight train and later hid within a mine, shielded by the sympathetic English mine owner. Wanted by the Boer authorities, he again hid aboard a freight train and travelled to safety in Portuguese East Africa. Sailing to Durban, Churchill found that his escape had attracted much publicity in Britain. He did not return home, and in January 1900 he was appointed a lieutenant in the South African Light Horse regiment, joining Redvers Buller 's fight to relieve the Siege of Ladysmith and take Pretoria. In his writings during the campaign, he chastised British hatred for the Boer, calling for them to be treated with `` generosity and tolerance '' and urging a `` speedy peace '' ; after the war was over he would call for the British to be magnanimous in victory. He was among the first British troops into Ladysmith and Pretoria. He and his cousin, the Duke of Marlborough, were able to get ahead of the rest of the troops in Pretoria, where they demanded and received the surrender of 52 Boer prison camp guards. After the victory in Pretoria, he returned to Cape Town and sailed for Britain in July. In May, while he had still been in South Africa, his Morning Post despatches had been published as London to Ladysmith via Pretoria, which sold well. Early political career Main article : Winston Churchill in politics : 1900 -- 1939 Early years in Parliament : 1900 -- 1905 Churchill 's election poster for the 1900 general election in Oldham, at which he was elected for the first time. Arriving in Southampton in July 1900, Churchill rented a flat in London 's Mayfair, using it as his base for the next six years, and hired a personal secretary. He stood again as a Conservative candidate for the seat of Oldham at the 1900 general election, securing a narrow victory. At the age of 25, he was now an MP. MPs were not then paid a wage and, to earn money, Churchill embarked on a speaking tour focusing on his South African experiences ; after touring Britain in late October and November he proceeded to the US, where his first lecture was introduced by the writer Mark Twain. In the US, he met President William McKinley and Vice President Theodore Roosevelt ; the latter invited Churchill to dinner, but took a dislike to him. Churchill then crossed to Canada to give more lectures, and in spring 1901 gave talks in Paris, Madrid, and Gibraltar. In October 1900, he published Ian Hamilton 's March, a book about his South African experiences. In February 1901, Churchill took his seat in the House of Commons, where his maiden speech gained widespread press coverage. He associated with a group of Conservatives known as the Hughligans, although he was critical of the Conservative government on various issues. He condemned the British execution of a Boer military commandant, and voiced concerns about the levels of public expenditure ; in response, Prime Minister Arthur Balfour asked him to join a parliamentary select committee on the topic. He opposed an increase in army funding, suggesting that any additional military expenditure should go to the navy. This upset the Conservative front bench but gained support from Liberals. He increasingly socialised with senior Liberals, and particularly the Liberal Imperialists like H.H. Asquith. In this context, he later wrote, he `` drifted steadily to the left '' of British parliamentary politics. He privately considered `` the gradual creation by an evolutionary process of a Democratic or Progressive wing to the Conservative Party '', or alternately a `` Central Party '' to unite the Conservatives and Liberals. A painting of the young Churchill by Edwin Arthur Ward In the House of Commons, Churchill increasingly voted with the Liberal opposition against the government. In February 1903, he was among 18 Conservative MPs who voted against the government 's increase in military expenditure. He backed the Liberal vote of censure against the use of Chinese indentured labourers in South Africa, and in favour of a Liberal bill to restore legal rights to trade unions. His April 1904 parliamentary speech upholding the rights of trade unions was described by the pro-Conservative Daily Mail as `` Radicalism of the reddest type ''. In May 1903, the Liberal Unionist MP Joseph Chamberlain, then the Secretary of State for the Colonies in a Conservative government, called for the introduction of tariffs on goods imported into the British Empire from outside ; Churchill became a leading Conservative voice against such economic protectionism. Describing himself as a `` sober admirer '' of `` the principles of Free Trade '', in July he was a founding member of the anti-protectionist Free Food League. In October, Balfour 's government sided with Chamberlain and announced protectionist legislation. Churchill 's outspoken criticism of Balfour 's government and imperial protectionism, coupled with a letter of support he sent to a Liberal candidate in Ludlow, angered many Conservatives. In December 1903, the Oldham Conservative Association informed him that it would not support his candidature in the next general election. In March 1904, Balfour and the Conservative front bench walked out of the House of Commons during one of his speeches ; he described their response as `` a very unpleasant and disconcerting demonstration ''. In May he expressed opposition to the government 's proposed Aliens Bill, which was designed to curb Jewish migration into Britain. He stated that the bill would `` appeal to insular prejudice against foreigners, to racial prejudice against Jews, and to labour prejudice against competition '' and expressed himself in favour of `` the old tolerant and generous practice of free entry and asylum to which this country has so long adhered and from which it has so greatly gained. '' On 31 May 1904, he crossed the floor, defecting from the Conservatives to sit as a member of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons. Churchill in 1904 Under - Secretary of State for the Colonies : 1905 -- 1908 In December, Balfour resigned as Prime Minister and King Edward VII invited the Liberal leader Henry Campbell - Bannerman to form a new government. Hoping to secure a working majority in the House of Commons, Campbell - Bannerman called a general election for January 1906. The Liberals won with 377 seats to the Conservatives ' 157. Having had a previous invitation from the Manchester Liberals to stand in their constituency, Churchill did so, winning the Manchester North West seat with a majority of 1241. January also saw the publication of Churchill 's biography of his father, a work he had been working on for several years. He received an advance payment of £ 8000 for the book, the highest ever paid for a political biography in Britain to that point ; on publication, it was generally well received. It was also at this time that the first biography of Churchill himself, written by the Liberal Alexander MacCallum Scott, was published. In the new government, Churchill became Under - Secretary of State for the Colonial Office, a position that he had requested. He worked beneath the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin, and took Edward Marsh as his secretary ; the latter remained Churchill 's secretary for 25 years. In this junior ministerial position, Churchill was first tasked with helping to draft a constitution for the Transvaal. In 1906, he helped oversee the granting of a government to the Orange Free State. In dealing with southern Africa, he sought to ensure equality between the British and Boer. He also announced a gradual phasing out of the use of Chinese indentured labourers in South Africa ; he and the government decided that a sudden ban would cause too much upset in the colony and might damage the economy. He expressed concerns about the relations between European settlers and the indigenous southern African population ; after Zulu launched the Bambatha Rebellion in Natal, he complained of Europeans ' `` disgusting butchery of the natives ''. In August 1906, Churchill holidayed on a yacht in Deauville, France, spending much of his time playing polo or gambling. From there he proceeded to Paris and then Switzerland -- where he climbed the Eggishorn -- and then to Berlin and Silesia, where he was a guest of Kaiser Wilhelm II. He went then to Venice, and from there toured Italy by motorcar with his friend, Lionel Rothschild. In May 1907, he holidayed at the home of another friend, Maurice de Forest, in Biarritz. In the autumn, he embarked on a tour of Europe and Africa. Traveling through France and then Italy, he travelled to Malta and then Cyprus, before moving through the Suez Canal to Aden and Berbera. Sailing to Mombasa, he travelled by rail through the Kenya Colony -- stopping for big game hunting in Simba -- before heading through the Uganda Protectorate and then sailing up the River Nile. He wrote about his experiences for Strand Magazine and later published them in book form as My African Journey. President of the Board of Trade : 1908 -- 1910 When Asquith succeeded Campbell - Bannerman in 1908, Churchill was promoted to the Cabinet as President of the Board of Trade. Aged 33, he was the youngest Cabinet member since 1866. Newly appointed Cabinet ministers were legally obliged to seek re-election at a by - election ; in April, Churchill lost Manchester North to the Conservative candidate by 429 votes. The Liberals then stood him in a by - election in the Scottish safe seat of Dundee, where he won comfortably. In his Cabinet role, Churchill worked with Liberal politician David Lloyd George to champion social reform. In one speech Churchill stated that although the `` vanguard '' of the British people `` enjoys all the delights of all the ages, our rearguard struggles out into conditions which are crueller than barbarism ''. To deal with this, he promoted what he called a `` network of State intervention and regulation '' akin to that in Germany. His speeches on these issues were published in the volumes Liberalism and the Social Problem and The People 's Rights. Churchill was married at St Margaret 's in Westminster One of the first tasks he faced was in arbitrating an industrial dispute among ship - workers and their employers on the River Tyne. He then established a Standing Court of Arbitration to deal with future industrial disputes, establishing a reputation as a conciliator. Arguing that workers should have their working hours reduced, Churchill promoted the Mines Eight Hours Bill -- which legally prohibited miners working more than an eight - hour day -- introducing its second reading in the House of Commons. In 1908, he introduced the Trade Boards Bill to parliament, which would establish a Board of Trade which could prosecute exploitative employers, establish the principle of minimum wage, and the right of workers to have meal breaks. The bill passed with a large majority. In May, he proposed the Labour Exchanges Bill which sought to establish over 200 Labour Exchanges through which the unemployed would be assisted in finding employment. He also promoted the idea of an unemployment insurance scheme, which would be part - funded by the state. To ensure funding for these social reforms, he and Lloyd George denounced Reginald McKennas ' expansion of warship production. Churchill openly ridiculed those who thought war with Germany was inevitable -- according to biographer Roy Jenkins he was going through `` a pro-German phase '' -- and in autumn 1909 he visited Germany, spending time with the Kaiser and observing German Army manoeuvres. In his personal life, Churchill proposed marriage to Clementine Hozier ; they were married in September at St Margaret 's, Westminster. They honeymooned in Baveno, Venice, and Moravia, before settling into a London home at 33 Eccleston Square. The following July they had a daughter, Diana. To pass its social reforms into law, Asquith 's Liberal government presented them in the form of the People 's Budget. Conservative opponents of the reform set up the Budget Protest League ; supporters of it established the Budget League, of which Churchill became president. The budget passed in the House of Commons but was rejected by the Conservative peers who dominated the House of Lords ; this threatened Churchill 's social reforms. Churchill warned that such upper - class obstruction would anger working - class Britons and could lead to class war. To deal with the deadlock, the government called a January 1910 general election, which resulted in a narrow Liberal victory ; Churchill retained his seat at Dundee. After the election, he proposed the abolition of the House of Lords in a cabinet memorandum, suggesting that it be replaced either by a unicameral system or by a new, smaller second chamber that lacked an in - built advantage for the Conservatives. In April, the Lords relented and the budget was passed. Home Secretary : 1910 -- 1911 I wanted to draw the attention of the country, by means of cases perfectly legitimate in themselves, to the evil by which 7,000 lads of the poorer classes are sent to gaol every year for offences for which, if the noble Lord had committed them at College, he would not have been subjected to the slightest degree of inconvenience. '' -- Winston Churchill in the House of Commons In February 1910, Churchill was promoted to Home Secretary, giving him control over the police and prison services, and he implemented a prison reform programme. He introduced a distinction between criminal and political prisoners, with prison rules for the latter being relaxed. He tried to establish libraries for prisoners, and introduced a measure ensuring that each prison must put on either a lecture or a concert for the entertainment of prisoners four times a year. He reduced the length of solitary confinement for first offenders to one month and for recidivists to three months, and spoke out against what he regarded as the excessively lengthy sentences meted out to perpetrators of certain crimes. He proposed the abolition of automatic imprisonment of those who failed to pay fines, and put a stop to the imprisonment of those aged between 16 and 21 except in cases where they had committed the most serious offences. Of the 43 capital sentences passed while he was Home Secretary, he commuted 21 of them. One of the major domestic issues in Britain was that of women 's suffrage. By this point, Churchill supported giving women the vote, although would only back a bill to that effect if it had majority support from the ( male ) electorate. His proposed solution was a referendum on the issue, but this found no favour with Asquith and women 's suffrage remained unresolved until 1918. Many Suffragettes mistook Churchill for a committed opponent of women 's suffrage, and targeted his meetings for protest. In November 1910, the suffragist Hugh Franklin attacked Churchill with a whip ; Franklin was arrested and imprisoned for six weeks. It was these militant suffragettes who were the primary beneficiaries of Churchill 's relaxed rules for those categorised as ' political ' prisoners. Churchill photographed at the Siege of Sidney Street In the summer of 1910, Churchill spent two months on de Forest 's yacht in the Mediterranean. Back in Britain, he was tasked with dealing with the Tonypandy Riot, in which coal miners in the Rhondda Valley violently protested against their working conditions. The Chief Constable of Glamorgan requested troops to help police quell the rioting. Churchill, learning that the troops were already travelling, allowed them to go as far as Swindon and Cardiff, but blocked their deployment ; he was concerned that the use of troops could lead to bloodshed. Instead he sent 270 London police -- who were not equipped with firearms -- to assist their Welsh counterparts. As the riots continued, he offered the protesters an interview with the government 's chief industrial arbitrator, which they accepted. Privately, Churchill regarded both the mine owners and striking miners as being `` very unreasonable ''. The Times and other media outlets accused him of being too soft on the rioters ; conversely, many in the Labour Party, which was linked to the trade unions, regarded him as having been too heavy - handed. Asquith called a general election for December 1910, in which the Liberals were re-elected and Churchill again secured his Dundee seat. In January 1911, Churchill became involved with the Siege of Sidney Street ; three Latvian burglars had killed several police officers and hidden in a house in London 's East End, which was surrounded by police. Churchill joined the police although did not direct their operation. After the house caught on fire, he told the fire brigade not to proceed into the house because of the threat that the armed Latvians posed to them. After the event, two of the burglars were found dead. Although he faced criticism for his decision, he stated that he `` thought it better to let the house burn down rather than spend good British lives in rescuing those ferocious rascals. '' In March 1911, he introduced the second reading of the Coal Mines Bill to parliament, which -- when implemented into law -- introduced stricter safety standards to coal mines. He also formulated the Shops Bill to improve the working conditions of shop workers ; it faced opposition from shop owners and only passed into law in a much emasculated form. To maintain pressure on this issue, he became president of the Early Closing Association and remained in that position until the early 1940s. In April, Lloyd George introduced the first health and unemployment insurance legislation, the National Insurance Act 1911 ; Churchill had been instrumental in drafting it. In May, his wife gave birth to their second child, Randolph, named after Churchill 's father. In 1911, he was tasked with dealing with escalating civil strife, sending troops into Liverpool to quell protesting dockers and rallying against a national railway strike. As the Agadir Crisis emerged, which threatened the outbreak of war between Germany and France, Churchill suggested that -- should negotiations fail -- the UK should form an alliance with France and Russia and safeguard the independence of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark in the face of possible German expansionism. The Agadir Crisis had a dramatic effect on Churchill and his views about the need for naval expansion. First Lord of the Admiralty : 1911 -- 1915 As First Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill 's London residency became Admiralty House ( music room pictured ). In October 1911, Asquith appointed Churchill First Lord of the Admiralty. He settled into his official London residence at Admiralty House, and established his new office aboard the admiralty yacht, the Enchantress. Over the next two and a half years he focused on naval preparation, visiting naval stations and dockyards, seeking to improve naval morale, and scrutinising German naval developments. After the German government passed the German Navy Law to increase warship production, Churchill vowed that Britain would do the same and that for every new battleship built by the Germans, Britain would build two. Believing that Germany had been taken over by an oligarchy of `` the landlord ascendancy '', he expressed the hope that war with the country would be averted if Germany 's `` democratic forces '' could re-assert their control over its government. To discourage conflict, he invited the Germans to engage in a mutual de-escalation of the two country 's naval building projects, but his offer was rebuffed. As part of his naval reforms, he pushed for higher pay and greater recreational facilities for naval staff, an increase in the building of submarines, and a renewed focus on the Royal Naval Air Service, encouraging them to experiment with how aircraft could be used for offensive military purposes. He coined the term `` seaplane '' and ordered 100 to be constructed for the Navy. In 1913 he began taking flying lessons at Eastchurch air station, although close friends urged him to stop given the dangers involved. Some Liberals objected to his levels of naval expenditure ; in December 1913 he threatened to resign if his proposal for four new battleships in 1914 -- 15 was rejected. In June 1914, he convinced the House of Commons to authorise the government purchase of a 51 percent share in the profits of oil produced by the Anglo - Persian Oil Company, to secure continued oil access for the Royal Navy. As a supporter of eugenics, he participated in the drafting of the Mental Deficiency Act 1913 ; however, the Act, in the form eventually passed, rejected his preferred method of sterilisation of the feeble - minded in favour of their confinement in institutions. I admit that the perfectly genuine apprehensions of the majority of the people of North - East Ulster constitute the most serious obstacle to a thoroughly satisfactory settlement... But whatever Ulster 's rights may be, she can not stand in the way of the whole of the rest of Ireland. -- Winston Churchill, introducing the second reading of the Home Rule Bill, April 1912 Taking political centre stage in this period was the vexed issue of how the British government should respond to the Irish home rule movement. In 1912, Asquith 's government had put forward the Home Rule Bill, which if passed into law would grant home rule to Ireland. Churchill supported the bill and urged Ulster Unionists -- a largely Protestant community who desired continued political unity with Britain -- to accept it. He opposed partition of Ireland, and in 1913 suggested that Ulster have some autonomy from an independent Irish government. Many Ulster Unionists rejected any option that left them under the jurisdiction of a Dublin - based government and the Ulster Volunteers threatened an uprising to establish an independent Protestant state in Ulster. Churchill was the Cabinet minister tasked with giving an ultimatum to those threatening violence, doing so in a Bradford speech in March 1914. Following a Cabinet decision, he boosted the naval presence in Ireland to deal with any Unionist uprising ; Conservatives accused him of trying to initiate an `` Ulster Pogrom ''. Seeking further compromise to calm the Ulster Volunteers, Churchill suggested that Ireland remain part of a federal United Kingdom ; this in turn angered Liberals and Irish nationalists. First World War I can not feel that we in this island ( i.e. Britain ) are in any serious degree responsible for the wave of madness which has swept the mind of Christendom. No one can measure the consequences. I wondered whether those stupid Kings and Emperors could not assemble together and revivify kingship by saving the nations from hell but we all drift on in a kind of dull cataleptic trance. As if it was somebody else 's operations. -- Winston Churchill to his wife, July 1914 Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in June 1914 there was growing talk of war in Europe. Churchill began readying the navy for conflict, convinced that if Germany attacked France then Britain would inevitably join the war. Although there was strong opposition within the Liberal Party to involvement in the conflict, the British Cabinet agreed that a German invasion of Belgium would be a cause for war. When this happened, Britain declared war. Churchill was tasked with overseeing the country 's naval warfare effort. In two weeks, the navy transported 120,000 British troops across the English Channel to France. In August, he oversaw a naval blockade of German North Sea ports to prevent them from transporting food by sea ; he also sent submarines to the Baltic Sea to assist the Russian Navy against German warships. Also in August, he sent the Marine Brigade to Ostend to force the Germans to reallocate some of their troops away from their main southward thrust. In September, Churchill took over full responsibility for the aerial defence of Britain, and made several visits to France to oversee the war effort. While in Britain, he spoke at all - party recruiting rallies in London and Liverpool, and his wife gave birth to their third child, Sarah. In October he visited Antwerp to observe Belgian defences against the besieging Germans ; he promised Belgian Prime Minister Charles de Broqueville that Britain would provide reinforcements for the city. The German assault continued, and shortly after Churchill left the city he agreed to a British retreat, allowing the Germans to take Antwerp ; many in the press criticised Churchill for this. Churchill maintained that his actions prolonged the resistance by a week ( Belgium had proposed surrendering Antwerp on 3 October ) and that this time had enabled the Allies to secure Calais and Dunkirk. Lavery 's portrait of Churchill wearing an Adrian helmet presented by General Fayolle. In November, Asquith called a War Council, consisting of himself, Lloyd George, Edward Grey, Kitchener, and Churchill. Churchill proposed a plan to seize the island of Borkum and use it as a post from which to attack Germany 's northern coastline, believing that this strategy should shorten the war. Churchill also encouraged the development of the tank, which he believed would be useful in overcoming the problems of trench warfare, and funded its creation with admiralty funds. To relieve Turkish pressure on the Russians in the Caucasus, Churchill was part of a plan to distract the Turkish Army by attacking in the Dardanelles, with the hope that if successful the British could seize Constantinople. In March, a fleet of 13 battleships attacked in the Dardanelles but faced severe problems from submerged mines ; in April, the 29th Division began its assault at Gallipoli. Many MPs, particularly Conservatives, blamed Churchill for the failure of these campaigns. Amid growing Conservative pressure, in May, Asquith agreed to form an all - party coalition government ; the Conservatives ' one condition of entry was that Churchill be demoted from his position at the Admiralty. Churchill plead his case with both Asquith and Conservative leader Bonar Law, but ultimately accepted his demotion to the position of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. On the Western front : 1915 -- 1916 Winston Churchill commanding the 6th Battalion, the Royal Scots Fusiliers, 1916. Archibald Sinclair sits to the left. For several months Churchill served in the sinecure of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. However, on 15 November 1915 he resigned from the government, realising that he would have no place in the smaller War Council being formed by Asquith in response to Cabinet demand, and feeling his energies were not being used. Although remaining a member of parliament, Churchill returned to the British Army, attempting to obtain an appointment as brigade commander, but settling for command of a battalion. After some time gaining front - line experience as a Major with the 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards, he was appointed temporary Lieutenant - Colonel, commanding the 6th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers ( part of the 9th ( Scottish ) Division ), on 1 January 1916. Correspondence with his wife shows that his intent in taking up active service was to rehabilitate his reputation, but this was balanced by the serious risk of being killed. During his period of command, his battalion was stationed at Ploegsteert but did not take part in any set battle. Although he disapproved strongly of the mass slaughter involved in many Western Front actions, he exposed himself to danger by making excursions to the front line and personally made 36 forays into no man 's land. Return to Parliament In March 1916, Churchill returned to the UK after he had become restless in France and wished to speak again in the House of Commons. Future prime minister David Lloyd George acidly commented : `` You will one day discover that the state of mind revealed in ( your ) letter is the reason why you do not win trust even where you command admiration. In every line of it, national interests are completely overshadowed by your personal concern. '' Churchill meets female workers at Georgetown 's filling works near Glasgow, October 1918 In July 1917, Churchill was appointed Minister of Munitions, and in January 1919, Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for Air. He was the main architect of the Ten Year Rule, a principle that allowed the Treasury to dominate and control strategic, foreign and financial policies under the assumption that `` there would be no great European war for the next five or ten years ''. ( Later as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1928, Churchill would persuade the Cabinet to make the rule self - perpetuating. ) A major preoccupation of his tenure in the War Office was the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. Churchill was a staunch advocate of foreign intervention, declaring that Bolshevism must be `` strangled in its cradle ''. He was instrumental in having para-military forces ( Black and Tans and Auxiliaries ) intervene in the Irish War of Independence. He became Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1921 and was a signatory of the Anglo - Irish Treaty of 1921, which established the Irish Free State. Churchill was involved in the lengthy negotiations of the treaty and, to protect British maritime interests, he engineered part of the Irish Free State agreement to include three Treaty Ports -- Queenstown ( Cobh ), Berehaven and Lough Swilly -- which could be used as Atlantic bases by the Royal Navy. In 1938, however, under the terms of the Anglo - Irish Trade Agreement, the bases were returned to Ireland. In 1919, Churchill sanctioned the use of tear gas on Kurdish tribesmen in Iraq. Though the British did consider the use of non-lethal poison gas in putting down Kurdish rebellions, it was not used, as conventional bombing was considered more effective. Official entry into Lille. The Minister of Munitions, Winston Churchill, watching the march past of the 47th ( 1 / 2nd London ) Division in the Grande Place, Lille, 28 October 1918. In front of him is the Chief of Staff of the 47th Division, Lieutenant Colonel Bernard Montgomery. In 1919, Britain and the United States signed a treaty of alliance with France which the United States Senate refused to ratify, thus making the proposed Anglo - Franco - American alliance stillborn. In July 1921, Churchill argued at the Imperial conference of Dominion prime ministers that despite the rejection by the United States Senate of the alliance with France that Britain should still sign a military alliance with France to guarantee post-war security. Churchill 's ideas of an Anglo - French alliance was rejected at the conference as British public opinion and even more so Dominion public opinion was against the idea of the `` continental commitment ''. In September, the Conservative Party withdrew from the Coalition government, following a meeting of backbenchers dissatisfied with the handling of the Chanak Crisis, a move that precipitated the looming November 1922 general election. Churchill fell ill during the campaign, and had to have an appendectomy. This made it difficult for him to campaign, and a further setback was the internal division which continued to beset the Liberal Party. He came fourth in the poll for Dundee, losing to prohibitionist Edwin Scrymgeour. Churchill later quipped that he left Dundee `` without an office, without a seat, without a party and without an appendix ''. On 4 May 1923, Churchill spoke in favour of the French occupation of the Ruhr, which was extremely unpopular in Britain saying : `` We must not allow any particular phrase of French policy to estrange us from the great French nation. We must not turn our backs on our friends from the past ''. In 1923, Churchill acted as a paid consultant for Burmah Oil ( now BP plc ) to lobby the British government to allow Burmah exclusive rights to Persian ( Iranian ) oil resources ; these rights were ultimately granted. He stood for the Liberals again in the 1923 general election, losing in Leicester West. Constitutionalist In January 1924, the first Labour Government had taken office amid fears of threats to the Constitution. Churchill was noted at the time for being particularly hostile to socialism. He believed that the Labour Party, as a socialist party, did not fully support the existing British Constitution. In March 1924, aged 49, he sought election at the Westminster Abbey by - election, 1924. He had originally sought the backing of the local Unionist association, which happened to be called the Westminster Abbey Constitutional Association, so he adopted the term ' Constitutionalist ' to describe himself during the by - election campaign. Despite support from Beaverbrook and Rothermere newspapers, he lost by 43 votes. After the by - election Churchill continued to use the term and talked about setting up a Constitutionalist Party, though any formal plans that Churchill may have had were shelved with the calling of another general election. Churchill and 11 others decided to use the label Constitutionalist rather than Liberal or Unionist. He was returned at Epping against a Liberal and with the support of the Unionists. After the election the seven Constitutionalist candidates who were elected, including Churchill, did not act or vote as a group. Rejoining the Conservative Party Chancellor of the Exchequer : 1924 -- 1929 Main article : Chancellorship of Winston Churchill Churchill accepted the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer in Stanley Baldwin 's Unionist government, and formally rejoined the Conservative Party, commenting wryly that `` anyone can rat, but it takes a certain ingenuity to re-rat '' ( in British English to `` rat '' means to betray ). As Chancellor of the Exchequer Churchill oversaw Britain 's disastrous return to the Gold Standard, which resulted in deflation, unemployment, and the miners ' strike that led to the General Strike of 1926. His decision, announced in the 1924 Budget, came after long consultation with various economists including John Maynard Keynes, Sir Otto Niemeyer, the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, and the board of the Bank of England. This decision prompted Keynes to write The Economic Consequences of Mr. Churchill, arguing that the return to the gold standard at the pre-war parity in 1925 ( £ 1 = $4.86 ) would lead to a global depression. However, the decision was generally popular and seen as ' sound economics ', although it was opposed by Lord Beaverbrook and the Federation of British Industries. Portrait of Churchill by Ambrose McEvoy ( 1878 -- 1927 ) Churchill later regarded this as the greatest mistake of his life ; in discussions at the time with former Chancellor Reginald McKenna, Churchill acknowledged that the return to the gold standard and the resulting ' dear money ' policy were economically bad. In those discussions he maintained the policy as fundamentally political -- a return to the pre-war conditions in which he believed. In his speech on the Bill he said `` I will tell you what it ( the return to the Gold Standard ) will shackle us to. It will shackle us to reality. '' The return to the pre-war exchange rate and to the Gold Standard depressed industries. The most affected was the coal industry, already suffering from declining output as shipping switched to oil. As basic British industries like cotton came under more competition in export markets, the return to the pre-war exchange was estimated to add up to ten percent in costs to the industry. In July 1925, a Commission of Inquiry report generally favoured the miners ' position rather than that of the mine owners. With Churchill 's support Baldwin proposed a subsidy to the coal industry, while a Royal Commission under Herbert Samuel prepared a further report. The Samuel Commission solved nothing, and the miners ' dispute led to the General Strike of 1926. Churchill edited the Government 's newspaper, the British Gazette, and was one of the more hawkish members of the Cabinet, recommending that the route of food convoys from the docks into London should be guarded by tanks, armoured cars and hidden machine guns. This was rejected by the Cabinet. Exaggerated accounts of Churchill 's belligerency during the strike soon began to circulate. Immediately afterward, the New Statesman claimed that Churchill had been leader of a `` war party '' in the Cabinet and had wished to use military force against the strikers. He consulted the Attorney - General Sir Douglas Hogg, who advised that although he had a good case for criminal libel, it would be inadvisable to have confidential Cabinet discussions aired in open court. Churchill agreed to let the matter drop. Later economists, as well as people at the time, also criticised Churchill 's budget measures. These were seen as assisting the generally prosperous rentier banking and salaried classes ( to which Churchill and his associates generally belonged ) at the expense of manufacturers and exporters, which were known then to be suffering from imports and from competition in traditional export markets, and as paring the Armed Forces, and especially the Royal Navy, too heavily. Political isolation Churchill wrote a biography of his ancestor John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, in the mid-1930s The Conservative government was defeated in the 1929 general election. Churchill did not seek election to the Conservative Business Committee, the official leadership of the Conservative MPs. Over the next two years, he became estranged from Conservative leadership over the issues of protective tariffs and Indian Home Rule, by his political views and by his friendships with press barons, financiers and people whose character was seen as dubious. When Ramsay MacDonald formed the National Government in 1931, Churchill was not invited to join the Cabinet. He was at the low - point in his career, in a period known as `` the wilderness years ''. He spent much of the next few years concentrating on his writing, works including Marlborough : His Life and Times -- a biography of his ancestor John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough -- and A History of the English Speaking Peoples ( though the latter was not published until well after the Second World War ), Great Contemporaries and many newspaper articles and collections of speeches. He was one of the best paid writers of his time. His political views, set forth in his 1930 Romanes Lecture and published as Parliamentary Government and the Economic Problem ( republished in 1932 in his collection of essays `` Thoughts and Adventures '' ) involved abandoning universal suffrage, a return to a property franchise, proportional representation for the major cities and an economic ' sub parliament '. Indian independence See also : Simon Commission and Government of India Act 1935 Churchill opposed Gandhi 's peaceful disobedience revolt and the Indian Independence movement in the 1920s and ' 30s, arguing that the Round Table Conference `` was a frightful prospect ''. Churchill brooked no moderation. `` The truth is '', he declared in 1930, `` that Gandhi - ism and everything it stands for will have to be grappled with and crushed. '' In response to Gandhi 's movement, Churchill proclaimed in 1920 that Gandhi should be bound hand and foot and crushed with an elephant ridden by the viceroy. Later reports indicate that Churchill favoured letting Gandhi die if he went on a hunger strike. The British Indian Empire in 1909 In speeches and press articles in this period, he forecast widespread unemployment in Britain and civil strife in India should independence be granted. The Viceroy, Lord Irwin, who had been appointed by the prior Conservative Government, engaged in the Round Table Conference in early 1931 and then announced the Government 's policy that India should be granted Dominion status. In this the Government was supported by the Liberal Party and, officially at least, by the Conservative Party. Churchill denounced the Round Table Conference. At a meeting of the West Essex Conservative Association, specially convened so that Churchill could explain his position, he said `` It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr Gandhi, a seditious Middle Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the East, striding half - naked up the steps of the Vice-regal palace... to parley on equal terms with the representative of the King - Emperor. '' He called the Indian National Congress leaders `` Brahmins who mouth and patter principles of Western Liberalism ''. The Quit India Movement, launched by Gandhi on 8 August 1942, during the Second World War, demanded an end to British rule of India. Two incidents damaged Churchill 's reputation within the Conservative Party in this period. Both were taken as attacks on the Conservative front bench. The first was his speech on the eve of the St George by - election in April 1931. In a safe Conservative seat, the official Conservative candidate Duff Cooper was opposed by Ernest Petter, an independent Conservative. Petter was supported by Lord Rothermere, Lord Beaverbrook and their respective newspapers. Although arranged before the by - election was set, Churchill 's speech was seen as supporting the independent candidate and as a part of the press barons ' campaign against Baldwin. Baldwin 's position was strengthened when Duff Cooper won, and when the civil disobedience campaign in India ceased with the Gandhi - Irwin Pact. The second issue was a claim by Churchill that Sir Samuel Hoare and Lord Derby had pressured the Manchester Chamber of Commerce to change evidence it had given to the Joint Select Committee considering the Government of India Bill, and in doing so had breached parliamentary privilege. He had the matter referred to the House of Commons Privilege Committee which, after investigations in which Churchill gave evidence, reported to the House that there had been no breach. The report was debated on 13 June 1934. Churchill was unable to find a single supporter in the House and the debate ended without a division. Churchill permanently broke with Baldwin over Indian independence and never again held any office while Baldwin was prime minister. Some historians see his basic attitude to India as being set out in his book My Early Life ( 1930 ). German and italian rearmament and conflicts in Manchuria and abyssinia In the 1920s, Churchill supported the idea of a `` reconciliation '' between Germany and France with Britain serving as the `` honest broker '' for the reconciliation ``. Beginning in 1931, when he opposed those who advocated giving Germany the right to military parity with France, Churchill spoke often of the dangers of Germany 's rearmament. In 1931, Churchill said : `` It is not in the immediate interest of European peace that the French Army should be seriously weakened. It is not in British interests to antagonize France ''. He later, particularly in The Gathering Storm, portrayed himself as being for a time, a lone voice calling on Britain to strengthen itself to counter the belligerence of Germany. However Lord Lloyd was the first to so agitate. In 1932, Churchill accepted the presidency of the newly founded New Commonwealth Society, a peace organisation which he described in 1937 as `` one of the few peace societies that advocates the use of force, if possible overwhelming force, to support public international law ''. Churchill 's initial attitude towards the fascist dictators was ambiguous. After the First World War defeat of Germany, a new danger occupied conservatives ' political consciousness -- the spread of communism. A newspaper article penned by Churchill and published on 4 February 1920, had warned that `` civilisation '' was threatened by the Bolsheviks, a movement which he linked through historical precedence to Jewish conspiracy. In his 1920 newspaper article entitled `` Zionism versus Bolshevism '', Churchill wrote in part : This movement among the Jews is not new... this world - wide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilisation and for the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development, of envious malevolence, and impossible equality, has been steadily growing. However, in this article, Churchill praised the Jews who had integrated into the national life of the countries in which they lived `` while adhering faithfully to their own religion '', contrasting them with those who had `` forsaken the faith of their forefathers '' and come to play an influential role in the rise of the Bolshevik movement. Most Churchill scholars cite his great admiration for the Jews. Due in part to his childhood exposure to his father 's many Jewish friends and associates, Churchill was a lifelong, fervent opponent of antisemitism and a supporter of the Zionist movement. In 1931, he warned against the League of Nations opposing the Japanese in Manchuria : `` I hope we shall try in England to understand the position of Japan, an ancient state... On the one side they have the dark menace of Soviet Russia. On the other the chaos of China, four or five provinces of which are being tortured under communist rule. '' In contemporary newspaper articles he referred to the Spanish Republican government as a communist front, and Franco 's army as the `` Anti-red movement. '' He supported the Hoare - Laval Pact and continued until 1937 to praise Mussolini. He regarded Mussolini 's regime as a bulwark against the perceived threat of communist revolution, going as far ( in 1933 ) as to call Mussolini the `` Roman genius... the greatest lawgiver among men. '' However, he stressed that the UK must stick with its tradition of Parliamentary democracy, not adopt fascism. Speaking in the House of Commons in 1937, Churchill said, `` I will not pretend that, if I had to choose between communism and Nazism, I would choose communism. '' In a 1935 essay, `` Hitler and his Choice '', which was republished in his 1937 book Great Contemporaries, Churchill expressed a hope that Hitler, if he so chose, and despite his rise to power through dictatorial action, hatred and cruelty, might yet `` go down in history as the man who restored honour and peace of mind to the great Germanic nation and brought it back serene, helpful and strong to the forefront of the European family circle. '' His first major speech on defence on 7 February 1934 stressed the need to rebuild the Royal Air Force and to create a Ministry of Defence ; his second, on 13 July urged a renewed role for the League of Nations. These three topics remained his themes until early 1936. In 1935, he was one of the founding members of The Focus, which brought together people of differing political backgrounds and occupations who were united in seeking `` the defence of freedom and peace. '' The Focus led to the formation of the much wider Arms and the Covenant Movement in 1936. Germany and rearmament : 1936 Churchill, holidaying in Spain when the Germans reoccupied the Rhineland in February 1936, returned to a divided Britain. The Labour opposition was adamant in opposing sanctions and the National Government was divided between advocates of economic sanctions and those who said that even these would lead to a humiliating backdown by Britain as France would not support any intervention. Churchill 's speech on 9 March was measured, and praised by Neville Chamberlain as constructive. But within weeks Churchill was passed over for the post of Minister for Co-ordination of Defence in favour of Attorney General Sir Thomas Inskip. A.J.P. Taylor later called this `` an appointment rightly described as the most extraordinary since Caligula made his horse a consul. '' At the time insiders were less worried : Duff Cooper was opposed to Churchill 's appointment, while General Ellison wrote that he had `` only one comment, and that is ' Thank God we are preserved from Winston Churchill. ' '' On 22 May 1936, Churchill was present at a meeting of Old Guard Conservatives ( the group, not all of them present on that occasion, included Austen Chamberlain, Geoffrey Lloyd, Leopold Amery, and Robert Horne ) at Lord Winterton 's house at Shillinglee Park, to push for greater rearmament. This meeting prompted Baldwin to comment that it was `` the time of year when midges came out of dirty ditches ''. Neville Chamberlain was also taking a growing interest in foreign affairs, and in June, as part of a power - bid at the expense of the young and pro-League of Nations Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, he demanded an end to sanctions against Italy ( `` the very midsummer of madness '' ). In June 1936, Churchill organised a deputation of senior Conservatives to see Baldwin, Inskip and Halifax. There had been demands for a Secret Session of the House and the senior ministers agreed to meet the deputation rather than listen to a potential four - hour speech by Churchill. He had tried to have delegates from the other two parties and later wrote, `` If the leaders of the Labour and Liberal oppositions had come with us there might have been a political situation so intense as to enforce remedial action. '' Robert Rhodes James writes that this is `` not quite the impression '' given by the documentary record of the meetings of 28 -- 29 July, and another meeting in November. Churchill 's figures for the size of the Luftwaffe, leaked to him by Ralph Wigram at the Foreign Office, were less accurate than those of the Air Ministry and he believed that the Germans were preparing to unleash thermite bombs `` the size of an orange '' on London. Ministers stressed that Hitler 's intentions were unclear, and the importance of maximising Britain 's long - term economic strength through exports, whereas Churchill wanted 25 -- 30 percent of British industry to be brought under state control for purposes of rearmament. Baldwin argued that the important thing had been to win the election to get `` a perfectly free hand '' for rearmament. The meeting ended with Baldwin agreeing with Churchill that rearmament was vital to deter Germany. On 12 November, Churchill returned to the topic. Speaking in the Address in Reply debate, after giving some specific instances of Germany 's war preparedness, he said `` The Government simply can not make up their mind or they can not get the Prime Minister to make up his mind. So they go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all powerful for impotency. And so we go on preparing more months more years precious perhaps vital for the greatness of Britain for the locusts to eat. '' Robert Rhodes James called this one of Churchill 's most brilliant speeches during this period, Baldwin 's reply sounding weak and disturbing the House. The exchange gave new encouragement to the Arms and the Covenant Movement. Abdication Crisis Main article : Edward VIII abdication crisis In June 1936, Walter Monckton told Churchill that the rumours that King Edward VIII intended to marry Mrs Wallis Simpson were true. Churchill then advised against the marriage and said he regarded Mrs Simpson 's existing marriage as a ' safeguard '. In November, he declined Lord Salisbury 's invitation to be part of a delegation of senior Conservative backbenchers who met with Baldwin to discuss the matter. On 25 November he, Attlee and Liberal Party leader Archibald Sinclair met with Baldwin, were told officially of the King 's intention, and asked whether they would form an administration if Baldwin and the National Government resigned should the King not take the Ministry 's advice. Both Attlee and Sinclair said they would not take office if invited to do so. Churchill 's reply was that his attitude was a little different but he would support the government. The Abdication crisis became public, coming to a head in the first two weeks of December 1936. At this time, Churchill publicly gave his support to the King. The first public meeting of the Arms and the Covenant Movement was on 3 December. Churchill was a major speaker and later wrote that in replying to the Vote of Thanks, he made a declaration ' on the spur of the moment ' asking for delay before any decision was made by either the King or his Cabinet. Later that night Churchill saw the draft of the King 's proposed wireless broadcast and spoke with Beaverbrook and the King 's solicitor about it. On 4 December, he met with the King and again urged delay in any decision about abdication. On 5 December, he issued a lengthy statement implying that the Ministry was applying unconstitutional pressure on the King to force him to make a hasty decision. On 7 December, he tried to address the Commons to plead for delay. He was shouted down. Seemingly staggered by the unanimous hostility of all Members, he left. Churchill 's reputation in Parliament and England as a whole was badly damaged. Some, such as Alistair Cooke, saw him as trying to build a King 's Party. Others like Harold Macmillan were dismayed by the damage Churchill 's support for the King had done to the Arms and the Covenant Movement. Churchill himself later wrote `` I was myself so smitten in public opinion that it was the almost universal view that my political life was at last ended. '' Historians are divided about Churchill 's motives in his support for Edward VIII. Some such as A.J.P. Taylor see it as being an attempt to ' overthrow the government of feeble men '. Others, such as R.R. James, view Churchill 's motives as honourable and disinterested, in that he felt deeply for the King. Return from exile Churchill later sought to portray himself as an isolated voice warning of the need to rearm against Germany. While it is true that he had a small following in the House of Commons during much of the 1930s, he was given privileged information by some elements within the government, particularly by disaffected civil servants in the War Ministry and Foreign Office. The `` Churchill group '' in the latter half of the decade consisted of only himself, Duncan Sandys and Brendan Bracken. It was isolated from the other main factions within the Conservative Party in pressing for faster rearmament and a stronger foreign policy ; one meeting of anti-Chamberlain forces decided that Churchill would make a good Minister of Supply. Even during the time Churchill was campaigning against Indian independence, he received official and otherwise secret information. From 1932, Churchill 's neighbour, Major Desmond Morton, with Ramsay MacDonald 's approval, gave Churchill information on German air power. From 1930 onward Morton headed a department of the Committee of Imperial Defence charged with researching the defence preparedness of other nations. Lord Swinton, as Secretary of State for Air, and with Baldwin 's approval, in 1934 gave Churchill access to official and otherwise secret information. Swinton did so, knowing Churchill would remain a critic of the government, but believing that an informed critic was better than one relying on rumour and hearsay. Churchill was a fierce critic of Neville Chamberlain 's appeasement of Adolf Hitler and in private letters to Lloyd George ( 13 August ) and Lord Moyne ( 11 September ) just before the Munich Agreement, he wrote that the government was faced with a choice between `` war and shame '' and that having chosen shame would later get war on less favourable terms. Return to the Admiralty On 3 September 1939, the day Britain declared war on Germany following the outbreak of the Second World War, Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, the same position he had held during the first part of the First World War. As such he was a member of Chamberlain 's small War Cabinet. In this position, he proved to be one of the highest - profile ministers during the so - called `` Phoney War '', when the only noticeable action was at sea and the USSR 's attack on Finland. Churchill planned to penetrate the Baltic with a naval force. This was soon changed to a plan involving the mining of Norwegian waters to stop iron ore shipments from Narvik and provoke Germany into attacking Norway, where it could be defeated by the Royal Navy. However, Chamberlain and the rest of the War Cabinet disagreed, and the start of the mining plan, Operation Wilfred, was delayed until 8 April 1940, a day before the successful German invasion of Norway. First term as Prime Minister : 1940 -- 1945 For a chronological guide to this subject, see Timeline of the first premiership of Winston Churchill. Further information : Churchill war ministry See also : Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II and British Empire in World War II `` We shall never surrender '' Churchill wears a helmet during an air raid warning in the Battle of Britain in 1940 On 10 May 1940, hours before the German invasion of France by a lightning advance through the Low Countries, it became clear that, following failure in Norway, the country had no confidence in Chamberlain 's prosecution of the war and so Chamberlain resigned. The commonly accepted version of events states that Lord Halifax turned down the post of prime minister because he believed he could not govern effectively as a member of the House of Lords instead of the House of Commons. Although a prime minister does not traditionally advise the King on a prime minister 's own successor, Chamberlain wanted someone who would command the support of all three major parties in the House of Commons. A meeting between Chamberlain, Halifax, Churchill, and David Margesson, the government Chief Whip, led to the recommendation of Churchill, and, as constitutional monarch, George VI asked Churchill to be prime minister. Churchill 's first act was to write to Chamberlain to thank him for his support. Churchill was still unpopular with many Conservatives and the Establishment, who opposed his replacing Chamberlain ; the former prime minister remained party leader until dying in November. Churchill probably could not have won a majority in any of the political parties in the House of Commons, and the House of Lords was completely silent when it learned of his appointment. Ralph Ingersoll reported in late 1940 that, `` Everywhere I went in London people admired ( Churchill 's ) energy, his courage, his singleness of purpose. People said they did n't know what Britain would do without him. He was obviously respected. But no one felt he would be Prime Minister after the war. He was simply the right man in the right job at the right time. The time being the time of a desperate war with Britain 's enemies. '' Churchill takes aim with a Sten submachine gun in June 1941. The man in the pin - striped suit and fedora to the right is his bodyguard, Walter H. Thompson. An element of British public and political sentiment favoured a negotiated peace with Germany, among them Halifax as Foreign Secretary. Over three days in May ( 26 -- 28 May 1940 ), there were repeated discussions within the War Cabinet of whether the UK should associate itself with French approaches to Mussolini to use his good offices with Hitler to seek a negotiated peace : they terminated in refusal to do so. Various interpretations are possible of this episode, and of Churchill 's argument that `` it was idle to think that, if we tried to make peace now, we should get better terms than if we fought it out '', but throughout Churchill seems to have opposed any immediate peace negotiations. Although at times personally pessimistic about Britain 's chances for victory ( Churchill told Hastings Ismay on 12 June 1940 that `` ( y ) ou and I will be dead in three months ' time '' ) his use of rhetoric hardened public opinion against a peaceful resolution and prepared the British for a long war. Coining the general term for the upcoming battle, Churchill stated in his `` finest hour '' speech to the House of Commons on 18 June, `` I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. '' By refusing an armistice with Germany, Churchill kept resistance alive in the British Empire and created the basis for the later Allied counter-attacks of 1942 -- 45, with Britain serving as a platform for the supply of the Soviet Union and the liberation of Western Europe. In response to previous criticisms that there had been no clear single minister in charge of the prosecution of the war, Churchill created and took the additional position of Minister of Defence, making him the most powerful wartime prime minister in British history. He immediately put his friend and confidant, industrialist and newspaper baron Lord Beaverbrook, in charge of aircraft production and made his friend Frederick Lindemann the government 's scientific advisor. It has been argued that it was Beaverbrook 's business acumen that allowed Britain to quickly gear up aircraft production and engineering, which eventually made the difference in the war. Churchill walks through the ruins of Coventry Cathedral with Alfred Robert Grindlay, 1941 Churchill 's speeches were a great inspiration to the embattled British. His first as prime minister was the famous `` I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat '' speech. One historian has called its effect on Parliament `` electrifying ''. The House of Commons that had ignored him during the 1930s `` was now listening, and cheering ''. Churchill followed that closely with two other equally famous speeches, given just before the Battle of Britain. One included the words :... we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills ; we shall never surrender. The other : Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ' This was their finest hour '. At the height of the Battle of Britain, his bracing survey of the situation included the memorable line `` Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few '', which engendered the enduring nickname The Few for the RAF fighter pilots who won it. He first spoke these famous words upon his exit from No. 11 Group 's underground bunker at RAF Uxbridge, now known as the Battle of Britain Bunker on 16 August 1940. One of his most memorable war speeches came on 10 November 1942 at the Lord Mayor 's Luncheon at Mansion House in London, in response to the Allied victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein. Churchill stated : This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. Without having much in the way of sustenance or good news to offer the British people, he took a risk in deliberately choosing to emphasise the dangers instead. `` Rhetorical power '', wrote Churchill, `` is neither wholly bestowed, nor wholly acquired, but cultivated. '' Not all were impressed by his oratory. Robert Menzies, Australian Prime Minister, said of Churchill during the Second World War : `` His real tyrant is the glittering phrase so attractive to his mind that awkward facts have to give way. '' Another associate wrote : `` He is... the slave of the words which his mind forms about ideas... And he can convince himself of almost every truth if it is once allowed thus to start on its wild career through his rhetorical machinery. '' Mental and physical health Winston Churchill giving his famous ' V ' sign, May 1943 The war energised Churchill, who was 65 years old when he became Prime Minister. Stating that he was the only top leader from World War I who still had an important political job, John Gunther wrote that Churchill `` looks ten years younger than he is ''. H.R. Knickerbocker wrote that `` The responsibilities which are his now must be greater than those carried by any other human being on earth. One would think such a weight would have a crushing effect upon him. Not at all. The last time I saw him, while the Battle of Britain was still raging, he looked twenty years younger than before the war began... His uplifted spirit is transmitted to the people ''. Churchill 's physical health became more fragile during the war ; he suffered a mild heart attack in December 1941 at the White House, and in December 1943 contracted pneumonia. Despite this, Churchill travelled over 100,000 miles ( 160,000 km ) throughout the war to meet other national leaders. For security, he usually travelled using the alias Colonel Warden. Since the appearance in 1966 of Lord Moran 's memoir of his years as Churchill 's doctor, with its claim that `` Black Dog '' was the name Churchill gave to `` the prolonged fits of depression from which he suffered '', many authors have suggested that throughout his life Churchill was a victim of, or at risk from, clinical depression. Formulated in this way, Churchill 's mental health history contains unmistakable echoes of the seminal interpretation of Lord Moran 's Black Dog revelations made by Dr Anthony Storr. In drawing so heavily on Moran for what he took to be the latter 's totally reliable, first - hand clinical evidence of Churchill 's lifelong struggle with `` prolonged and recurrent depression '' and its associated `` despair '', Storr produced a seemingly authoritative and persuasive diagnostic essay that, in the words of John Ramsden, `` strongly influenced all later accounts. '' Churchill in Québec City, Canada in 1943 However, Storr was not aware that Moran, as Moran 's biographer Professor Richard Lovell has shown and contrary to the impression created in Moran 's book, kept no diary, in the usual sense of the word, during his years as Churchill 's doctor. Nor was Storr aware that Moran 's book as published was a much rewritten account which mixed together Moran 's contemporaneous jottings with later material acquired from other sources. As Wilfred Attenborough demonstrated, the key Black Dog ' diary ' entry for 14 August 1944 was an arbitrarily dated pastiche in which the explicit reference to Black Dog -- the first of the few in the book ( with an associated footnote definition of the term ) -- was taken, not from anything Churchill had said to Moran, but from much later claims made to Moran by Bracken in 1958. Although seemingly unnoticed by Dr Storr and those he influenced, Moran later on in his book retracts his earlier suggestion, also derived from Brendan Bracken, that, towards the end of the Second World War, Churchill was succumbing to `` the inborn melancholia of the Churchill blood '' ; also unnoticed by Storr et al., Moran, in his final chapter, states that Churchill, before the start of the First World War, `` had managed to extirpate bouts of depression from his system ''. Churchill visits the troops in Normandy, 1944 Despite the difficulties with Moran 's book, the many illustrations it provides of a Churchill understandably plunged into temporary low mood by military defeats and other severely adverse developments constitute a compelling portrait of a great man reacting to, but not significantly impeded by, worry and overstrain, a compelling portrait that is entirely consistent with the portraits of others who worked closely with Churchill. Churchill did not receive medication for depression -- the amphetamine that Moran prescribed for special occasions, especially for big speeches from the autumn of 1953 onwards, was to combat the effects of Churchill 's stroke of that year. Churchill himself seems, in a long life, to have written about Black Dog on one occasion only : the reference, a backward - looking one, occurs in a private handwritten letter to Clementine Churchill dated July 1911 which reports the successful treatment of a relative 's depression by a doctor in Germany. His ministerial circumstances at that date, the very limited treatments available for serious depression pre-1911, the fact of the relative 's being `` complete cured '', and, not least, the evident deep interest Churchill took in the fact of the complete cure, can be shown to point to Churchill 's pre-1911 Black Dog depression as having been a form of mild ( i.e. non-psychotic ) anxiety - depression, as that term is defined by Professor Edward Shorter. Churchill 's crossing of the Rhine river in Germany, during Operation Plunder on 25 March 1945 Moran himself leaned strongly in the direction of his patient being `` by nature very apprehensive '' ; close associates of Churchill have disputed the idea that apprehension was a defining feature of Churchill 's temperament, although they readily concede that he was noticeably worried and anxious about some matters, especially in the buildup to important speeches in the House of Commons and elsewhere. Churchill himself all but openly acknowledged in his book Painting as a Pastime that he was prey to the `` worry and mental overstrain ( experienced ) by persons who, over prolonged periods, have to bear exceptional responsibilities and discharge duties upon a very large scale ''. The fact that he found a remedy in painting and bricklaying is a strong indicator that the condition as he defined it did not amount to ' clinical depression ', certainly not as that term was understood during the lifetimes of himself and Lord Moran. According to Lord Moran, during the war years Churchill sought solace in his tumbler of whisky and soda and his cigar. Churchill was also a very emotional man, unafraid to shed tears when appropriate. During some of his broadcast speeches it was noticed that he was trying to hold back the tears. Nevertheless, although the fall of Tobruk was, by Churchill 's own account, `` one of the heaviest blows '' he received during the war, there seem to have been no tears. Certainly, the next day Moran found him animated and vigorous. Field Marshal Alanbrooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, who had been present when President Roosevelt broke the news of the tragedy to Churchill, focused afterward in his diary on the superbly well judged manner in which the President made his offer of immediate military assistance, despite Alanbrooke 's being ever ready to highlight what he perceived to be Churchill 's contradictory motivations and flawed character during the war. For example, in his diary entry for 10 September 1944 :... And the wonderful thing is that 3 / 4 of the population of the world imagine that Churchill is one of the Strategists of History, a second Marlborough, and the other 1 / 4 have no idea what a public menace he is and has been throughout this war ! It is far better that the world should never know, and never suspect the feet of clay of this otherwise superhuman being. Without him England was lost for a certainty, with him England has been on the verge of disaster time and again... Never have I admired and despised a man simultaneously to the same extent. Never have such opposite extremes been combined in the same human being. Relations with the United States Generalissimo Chiang Kai - shek, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Churchill at the Cairo Conference in 1943. Winston Churchill fires an American M1 carbine during a visit to the US 2nd Armored Division on Salisbury Plain, 23 March 1944. Churchill 's good relations with United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt -- between 1939 and 1945 they exchanged an estimated 1700 letters and telegrams and met 11 times ; Churchill estimated that they had 120 days of close personal contact -- helped secure vital food, oil and munitions via the North Atlantic shipping routes. It was for this reason that Churchill was relieved when Roosevelt was re-elected in 1940. Upon re-election, Roosevelt immediately set about implementing a new method of providing military hardware and shipping to Britain without the need for monetary payment. Roosevelt persuaded Congress that repayment for this immensely costly service would take the form of defending the US ; and so Lend - Lease was born. Churchill had 12 strategic conferences with Roosevelt which covered the Atlantic Charter, Europe first strategy, the Declaration by United Nations and other war policies. After Pearl Harbor was attacked, Churchill 's first thought in anticipation of US help was, `` We have won the war ! '' On 26 December 1941, Churchill addressed a joint meeting of the US Congress, asking of Germany and Japan, `` What kind of people do they think we are ? '' Churchill initiated the Special Operations Executive ( SOE ) under Hugh Dalton 's Ministry of Economic Warfare, which established, conducted and fostered covert, subversive and partisan operations in occupied territories with notable success ; and also the Commandos which established the pattern for most of the world 's current Special Forces. The Russians referred to him as the `` British Bulldog. '' Churchill was party to treaties that would redraw post-Second World War European and Asian boundaries. These were discussed as early as 1943. At the Second Quebec Conference in 1944 he drafted and, together with Roosevelt, signed a less - harsh version of the original Morgenthau Plan, in which they pledged to convert Germany after its unconditional surrender `` into a country primarily agricultural and pastoral in its character. '' Proposals for European boundaries and settlements were officially agreed to by President Harry S. Truman, Churchill, and Joseph Stalin at Potsdam. Churchill 's strong relationship with Harry Truman was of great significance to both countries. While he clearly regretted the loss of his close friend and counterpart Roosevelt, Churchill was enormously supportive of Truman in his first days in office, calling him, `` the type of leader the world needs when it needs him most. '' Relations with the Soviet Union Huge portraits of Churchill and Stalin, Brisbane, Australia, 31 October 1941 When Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, Winston Churchill, a vehement anti-communist, famously stated `` If Hitler invaded Hell, I would at least make a favourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons '', regarding his policy towards Stalin. Soon, British supplies and tanks were being sent to help the Soviet Union. The Casablanca Conference, a meeting of Allied powers held in Casablanca, Morocco, on 14 January through 23 January 1943, produced what was to be known as the `` Casablanca Declaration ''. In attendance were Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Charles de Gaulle. Joseph Stalin had bowed out, citing the need for his presence in the Soviet Union to attend to the Stalingrad crisis. It was in Casablanca that the Allies made a unified commitment to continue the war through to the `` unconditional surrender '' of the Axis powers. In private, however, Churchill did not fully subscribe to the doctrine of `` unconditional surrender '', and was taken by surprise when Franklin Roosevelt announced this to the world as Allied consensus. The settlement concerning the borders of Poland, that is, the boundary between Poland and the Soviet Union and between Germany and Poland, was viewed as a betrayal in Poland during the post-war years, as it was established against the views of the Polish government in exile. It was Winston Churchill, who tried to motivate Mikołajczyk, who was prime minister of the Polish government in exile, to accept Stalin 's wishes, but Mikołajczyk refused. Churchill was convinced that the only way to alleviate tensions between the two populations was the transfer of people, to match the national borders. Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin at the Yalta Conference, February 1945 As he expounded in the House of Commons on 15 December 1944, `` Expulsion is the method which, insofar as we have been able to see, will be the most satisfactory and lasting. There will be no mixture of populations to cause endless trouble... A clean sweep will be made. I am not alarmed by these transferences, which are more possible in modern conditions. '' However, the resulting expulsions of Germans from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Romania were carried out in a way which resulted in much hardship and, according to a 1966 report by the West German Ministry of Refugees and Displaced Persons, over 2.1 million Germans dead or missing. Churchill opposed the Soviet domination of Poland and wrote bitterly about it in his books, but was unable to prevent it at the conferences. During October 1944, he and Eden were in Moscow to meet with the Russian leadership. At this point, Russian forces were beginning to advance into various eastern European countries. Churchill held the view that until everything was formally and properly worked out at the Yalta conference, there had to be a temporary, war - time, working agreement with regard to who would run what. The most significant of these meetings was held on 9 October 1944 in the Kremlin between Churchill and Stalin. During the meeting, Poland and the Balkan problems were discussed. Churchill told Stalin : Let us settle about our affairs in the Balkans. Your armies are in Rumania and Bulgaria. We have interests, missions, and agents there. Do n't let us get at cross-purposes in small ways. So far as Britain and Russia are concerned, how would it do for you to have ninety per cent predominance in Rumania, for us to have ninety per cent of the say in Greece, and go fifty -- fifty about Yugoslavia ? Stalin agreed to this Percentages agreement, ticking a piece of paper as he heard the translation. In 1958, five years after the account of this meeting was published ( in The Second World War ), authorities of the Soviet Union denied that Stalin accepted the `` imperialist proposal ''. One of the conclusions of the Yalta Conference was that the Allies would return all Soviet citizens that found themselves in the Allied zone to the Soviet Union. This immediately affected the Soviet prisoners of war liberated by the Allies, but was also extended to all Eastern European refugees. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn called the Operation Keelhaul `` the last secret '' of the Second World War. The operation decided the fate of up to two million post-war refugees fleeing eastern Europe. Role in Bengal Famine There has been debate over Churchill 's culpability in the deaths of millions of Indians during the Bengal famine of 1943. Some commentators point to the disruption of the traditional marketing system and maladministration at the provincial level as a cause, with Churchill saying that the famine was the Indians ' own fault for `` breeding like rabbits ''. Adam Jones, editor of the Journal of Genocide Research, calls Churchill `` a genuine genocidaire '', noting that the British leader called Indians a `` foul race '' in this period and said that the British air force chief should `` send some of his surplus bombers to destroy them. '' Arthur Herman, author of Churchill and Gandhi, contends, ' The real cause was the fall of Burma to the Japanese, which cut off India 's main supply of rice imports when domestic sources fell short... ( though ) it is true that Churchill opposed diverting food supplies and transports from other theatres to India to cover the shortfall : this was wartime. ' In response to an urgent request by the Secretary of State for India ( Leo Amery ) and the Viceroy of India ( Wavell ), to release food stocks for India, Churchill responded with a telegram to Wavell asking, if food was so scarce, `` why Gandhi had n't died yet ''. In July 1940, newly in office, he reportedly welcomed reports of the emerging conflict between the Muslim League and the Indian Congress, hoping `` it would be bitter and bloody ''. Dresden bombings controversy Main article : Bombing of Dresden in World War II The destruction of Dresden, February 1945 Between 13 -- 15 February 1945, British and US bombers attacked the German city of Dresden, which was crowded with German wounded and refugees. There were unknown numbers of refugees in Dresden, so historians Matthias Neutzner, Götz Bergander and Frederick Taylor have used historical sources and deductive reasoning to estimate that the number of refugees in the city and surrounding suburbs was around 200,000 or less on the first night of the bombing. Because of the cultural importance of the city, and of the number of civilian casualties close to the end of the war, this remains one of the most controversial Western Allied actions of the war. Following the bombing Churchill stated in a secret telegram : It seems to me that the moment has come when the question of bombing of German cities simply for the sake of increasing the terror, though under other pretexts, should be reviewed... I feel the need for more precise concentration upon military objectives such as oil and communications behind the immediate battle - zone, rather than on mere acts of terror and wanton destruction, however impressive. On reflection, under pressure from the chiefs of staff, and in response to the views expressed by Sir Charles Portal ( Chief of the Air Staff ) and Sir Arthur Harris ( AOC - in - C of RAF Bomber Command ), among others, Churchill withdrew his memo and issued a new one. This final version of the memo completed on 1 April 1945, stated : It seems to me that the moment has come when the question of the so called ' area - bombing ' of German cities should be reviewed from the point of view of our own interests. If we come into control of an entirely ruined land, there will be a great shortage of accommodation for ourselves and our allies... We must see to it that our attacks do no more harm to ourselves in the long run than they do to the enemy 's war effort. Ultimately, responsibility for the British part of the attack lay with Churchill, which is why he has been criticised for allowing the bombings to occur. German historian Jörg Friedrich claims that Churchill 's decision was a `` war crime '', and, writing in 2006, philosopher A.C. Grayling questioned the whole strategic bombing campaign by the RAF, presenting the argument that although it was not a war crime it was a moral crime that undermines the Allies ' contention that they fought a just war. On the other hand, it has been asserted that Churchill 's involvement in the bombing of Dresden was based on strategic and tactical aspects of winning the war. The destruction of Dresden, while immense, was designed to expedite the defeat of Germany. As historian and journalist Max Hastings wrote in an article subtitled `` the Allied Bombing of Dresden '' : `` I believe it is wrong to describe strategic bombing as a war crime, for this might be held to suggest some moral equivalence with the deeds of the Nazis. Bombing represented a sincere, albeit mistaken, attempt to bring about Germany 's military defeat. '' British historian Frederick Taylor points out that `` All sides bombed each other 's cities during the war. Half a million Soviet citizens, for example, died from German bombing during the invasion and occupation of Russia. That 's roughly equivalent to the number of German citizens who died from Allied raids. '' End of the Second World War See also : Churchill caretaker ministry Churchill waving the Victory sign to the crowd in Whitehall on the day he broadcast to the nation that the war with Germany had been won, 8 May 1945. Ernest Bevin stands to his right. In June 1944, the Allied Forces invaded Normandy and pushed the Nazi forces back into Germany on a broad front over the coming year. After being attacked on three fronts by the Allies, and in spite of Allied failures, such as Operation Market Garden, and German counter-attacks, including the Battle of the Bulge, Germany was eventually defeated. On 7 May 1945 at the SHAEF headquarters in Rheims the Allies accepted Germany 's surrender. On the same day in a BBC news flash John Snagge announced that 8 May would be Victory in Europe Day. On Victory in Europe Day, Churchill broadcast to the nation that Germany had surrendered and that a final ceasefire on all fronts in Europe would come into effect at one minute past midnight that night. Afterward, Churchill told a huge crowd in Whitehall : `` This is your victory. '' The people shouted : `` No, it is yours '', and Churchill then conducted them in the singing of `` Land of Hope and Glory ''. In the evening he made another broadcast to the nation asserting the defeat of Japan in the coming months. The Japanese surrendered on 15 August 1945. As Europe celebrated peace at the end of six years of war, Churchill was concerned with the possibility that the celebrations would soon be brutally interrupted. He concluded the UK and the US must anticipate the Red Army ignoring previously agreed frontiers and agreements in Europe, and prepare to `` impose upon Russia the will of the United States and the British Empire. '' According to the Operation Unthinkable plan ordered by Churchill and developed by the British Armed Forces, the Third World War could have started on 1 July 1945 with a sudden attack against the allied Soviet troops. The plan was rejected by the British Chiefs of Staff Committee as militarily unfeasible. Syria Crisis Further information : Levant Crisis Soon after VE day there came a dispute with Britain over French mandates Syria and Lebanon, known as the Levant, which quickly developed into a major diplomatic incident. In May, de Gaulle sent more French troops to re-establish their presence, provoking an outbreak of nationalism. On 20 May, French troops opened fire on demonstrators in Damascus with artillery and dropped bombs from the air. Finally, on 31 May, with the death toll exceeding a thousand Syrians, Churchill decided to act and sent de Gaulle an ultimatum saying, `` In order to avoid a collision between British and French forces, we request you immediately to order French troops to cease fire and withdraw to their barracks ''. This was ignored by both de Gaulle and the French forces, and thus Churchill ordered British troops and armoured cars under General Bernard Paget to invade Syria from nearby Transjordan. The invasion went ahead, and the British swiftly moved in cutting the French General Fernand Oliva - Roget 's telephone line with his base at Beirut. Eventually, heavily outnumbered, Oliva - Roget ordered his men back to their bases near the coast, and they were escorted by the British. A furious row then broke out between Britain and France. Churchill 's relationship with de Gaulle was at this time rock bottom in spite of his efforts to preserve French interests at Yalta and a visit to Paris the previous year. In January he told a colleague that he believed that de Gaulle was `` a great danger to peace and for Great Britain. After five years of experience, I am convinced that he is the worst enemy of France in her troubles... he is one of the greatest dangers to European peace... I am sure that in the long run no understanding will be reached with General de Gaulle ''. In France, there were accusations that Britain had armed the demonstrators, and de Gaulle raged against ' Churchill 's ultimatum ', saying that `` the whole thing stank of oil ''. In opposition : 1945 -- 1951 Main article : Later life of Winston Churchill Caretaker government and 1945 election Churchill at Potsdam Conference ( July 1945 ) With a general election looming ( there had been none for almost a decade ), and with the Labour Ministers refusing to continue the wartime coalition, Churchill resigned as Prime Minister on 23 May 1945. Later that day, he accepted the King 's invitation to form a new government, known officially as the National Government, like the Conservative - dominated coalition of the 1930s, but in practice known as the Churchill caretaker ministry. The government contained Conservatives, National Liberals and a few non-party figures such as Sir John Anderson and Lord Woolton, but not Labour or Archibald Sinclair 's Official Liberals. Although Churchill continued to carry out the functions of Prime Minister, including exchanging messages with the US administration about the upcoming Potsdam Conference, he was not formally reappointed until 28 May. Although polling day was 5 July, the results of the 1945 election did not become known until 26 July, owing to the need to collect the votes of those serving overseas. Clementine, who together with his daughter Mary had been at the count at Churchill 's constituency in Essex ( although unopposed by the major parties, Churchill had been returned with a much - reduced majority against an independent candidate ), returned to meet her husband for lunch. To her suggestion that election defeat might be `` a blessing in disguise '' he retorted that `` at the moment it seems very effectively disguised ''. That afternoon Churchill 's doctor Lord Moran ( so he later recorded in his book The Struggle for Survival ) commiserated with him on the `` ingratitude '' of the British public, to which Churchill replied `` I would n't call it that. They have had a very hard time. '' Having lost the election, despite enjoying much support amongst the British population, he resigned as Prime Minister that evening, this time handing over to a Labour Government. Many reasons for his defeat have been given, key among them being that a desire for post-war reform was widespread amongst the population and that the man who had led Britain in war was not seen as the man to lead the nation in peace. Although the Conservative Party was unpopular, many electors appear to have wanted Churchill to continue as Prime Minister whatever the outcome, or to have wrongly believed that this would be possible. On the morning of 27 July, Churchill held a farewell Cabinet. On the way out of the Cabinet Room he told Eden `` Thirty years of my life have been passed in this room. I shall never sit in it again. You will, but I shall not. '' However, contrary to expectations, Churchill did not hand over the Conservative leadership to Anthony Eden, who became his deputy but was disinclined to challenge his leadership. It would be another decade before Churchill finally did hand over the reins. Opposition leader Churchill with American General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery at a meeting of NATO in October 1951, shortly before Churchill was to become prime minister for a second time For six years Churchill was to serve as the Leader of the Opposition. During these years he continued to influence world affairs. During his 1946 trip to the United States, Churchill famously lost a lot of money in a poker game with Harry Truman and his advisors. During this trip he gave his Iron Curtain speech about the USSR and the creation of the Eastern Bloc. Speaking on 5 March 1946 at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, he declared : From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an Iron Curtain has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere. Churchill 's doctor Lord Moran later ( in his book The Struggle for Survival ) recalled Churchill suggesting in 1946 -- the year before he put the idea ( unsuccessfully ) in a memo to President Truman -- that the United States make a pre-emptive atomic bomb attack on Moscow while the Soviet Union did not yet possess nuclear weapons. In parliament on 5 June 1946, three days before the London Victory Parade, Churchill said he ' deeply ' regretted that : ( ( quote none of the Polish troops, and I must say this, who fought with us on a score of battlefields, who poured out their blood in the common cause, are not to be allowed to march in the Victory Parade... The fate of Poland seems to be unending tragedy and we who went to war all ill - prepared on her behalf watch with sorrow the strange outcome of our endeavours. Churchill told the Irish Ambassador to London in 1946, `` I said a few words in parliament the other day about your country because I still hope for a united Ireland. You must get those fellows in the north in, though ; you ca n't do it by force. There is not, and never was, any bitterness in my heart towards your country. '' He later said `` You know I have had many invitations to visit Ulster but I have refused them all. I do n't want to go there at all, I would much rather go to southern Ireland. Maybe I 'll buy another horse with an entry in the Irish Derby. '' He continued to lead his party after losing the 1950 general election. European unity Further information : Ideas of European unity before 1945 In the summer of 1930, inspired by the ideas being floated by Aristide Briand and by his recent tour of the US in the autumn of 1929, Churchill wrote an article lamenting the instability which had been caused by the independence of Poland and the disintegration of Austria - Hungary into petty states, and called for a `` United States of Europe '', although he wrote that Britain was `` with Europe but not of it ''. Ideas about closer European union continued to circulate, driven by Paul - Henri Spaak, from 1942 onwards. As early as March 1943 a Churchill speech on postwar reconstruction annoyed the US administration not only by not mentioning China as a great power but by proposing a purely European `` Council of Europe ''. Harry Hopkins passed on President Roosevelt 's concerns, warning Eden that it would `` give free ammunition to ( US ) isolationists '' who might propose an American `` regional council ''. Churchill urged Eden, on a visit to the US at the time, to `` listen politely '' but give `` no countenance '' to Roosevelt 's proposals for the US, UK, USSR and Chiang Kai - shek 's China to act together to enforce `` Global Collective Security '' with the Japanese and French Empires taken into international trusteeship. Now out of office, Churchill gave a speech at Zurich on 19 September 1946 in which he called for `` a kind of United States of Europe '' centred around a Franco - German partnership, with Britain and the Commonwealth, and perhaps the US, as `` friends and sponsors of the new Europe ''. The Times wrote of him `` startling the world '' with `` outrageous propositions '' and warned that there was as yet little appetite for such unity, and that he appeared to be assuming a permanent division between Eastern and Western Europe, and urged `` more humdrum '' economic agreements. Churchill 's speech was praised by Leo Amery and by Count Coudenhove - Kalergi who wrote that it would galvanise governments into action. Churchill expressed similar sentiments at a meeting of the Primrose League at the Albert Hall on 18 May 1947. He declared `` let Europe arise '' but was `` absolutely clear '' that `` we shall allow no wedge to be driven between Britain and the United States ''. Churchill 's speeches helped to encourage the foundation of the Council of Europe. In June 1950, Churchill was strongly critical of the Attlee Government 's failure to send British representatives to Paris ( to discuss the Schuman Plan for setting up the European Coal and Steel Community ), declaring that les absents ont toujours tort and calling it `` a squalid attitude '' which `` derange ( d ) the balance of Europe '', and risked Germany dominating the new grouping. He called for world unity through the UN ( against the backdrop of the communist invasion of South Korea ), while stressing that Britain was uniquely placed to exert leadership through her links to the Commonwealth, the US and Europe. However, Churchill did not want Britain to actually join any federal grouping. In September 1951, a declaration of the American, French and British foreign ministers welcomed the Schuman Plan, stressing that it would revive economic growth and encourage the development of a democratic Germany, part of the Atlantic community. After returning as Prime Minister, Churchill issued a note for the Cabinet on 29 November 1951. He listed British Foreign Policy priorities as Commonwealth unity and consolidation, `` fraternal association '' of the English - speaking world ( i.e. the Commonwealth and the US ), then thirdly `` United Europe, to which we are a closely -- and specially - related ally and friend... ( it is ) only when plans for uniting Europe take a federal form that we can not take part, because we can not subordinate ourselves or the control of British policy to federal authorities ''. In 1956, after retiring as Prime Minister, Churchill went to Aachen to receive the Charlemagne Prize for his contribution to European Unity. Churchill is today listed as one of the `` Founding fathers of the European Union ''. In July 1962, Field - Marshal Montgomery told the press that the aged Churchill, whom he had just visited in hospital where he was being treated for a broken hip, was opposed to Macmillan 's negotiations for Britain to enter the EEC ( which would, in the event, be vetoed by the French President, General de Gaulle, the following January ). Churchill told his granddaughter, Edwina, that Montgomery 's behaviour in leaking a private conversation was `` monstrous ''. Second term as Prime Minister : 1951 -- 1955 Main article : Second premiership of Winston Churchill Further information : Third Churchill ministry Return to government Domestic policy After the general election of October 1951, Churchill again became prime minister, and his second government lasted until his resignation in April 1955. He also held the office of Minister of Defence from October 1951 until 1 March 1952, when he handed the portfolio to Field Marshal Alexander. In domestic affairs, various reforms were introduced such as the Mines and Quarries Act 1954 and the Housing Repairs and Rents Act 1954. The former measure consolidated legislation dealing with the employment of young persons and women in mines and quarries, together with safety, health, and welfare. The latter measure extended previous housing Acts, and set out details in defining housing units as `` unfit for human habitation. '' Tax allowances were raised, as well, construction of council housing accelerated, and pensions and national assistance benefits were increased. Controversially, however, charges for prescription medicines were introduced. Housing was an issue the Conservatives were widely recognised to have made their own, after the Churchill government of the early 1950s, with Harold Macmillan as Minister for Housing, giving housing construction far higher political priority than it had received under the Attlee administration ( where housing had been attached to the portfolio of Health Minister Aneurin Bevan, whose attention was concentrated on his responsibilities for the National Health Service ). Macmillan had accepted Churchill 's challenge to meet the latter 's ambitious public commitment to build 300,000 new homes a year, and achieved the target a year ahead of schedule. Colonial affairs Crowd demonstrates against Britain in Cairo on 23 October 1951 as tension continued to mount in the dispute between Egypt and Britain over control of the Suez Canal and Anglo - Egyptian Sudan. Kenya and malaya Main articles : Mau Mau Uprising and Malayan Emergency Churchill 's domestic priorities in his last government were overshadowed by a series of foreign policy crises, which were partly the result of the continued decline of British military and imperial prestige and power. Being a strong proponent of Britain as an international power, Churchill would often meet such moments with direct action. One example was his dispatch of British troops to Kenya to deal with the Mau Mau rebellion. Trying to retain what he could of the Empire, he once stated that, `` I will not preside over a dismemberment. '' This was followed by events which became known as the Malayan Emergency which had been in progress since 1948. Once again, Churchill 's government inherited a crisis, and Churchill chose to use direct military action against those in rebellion while attempting to build an alliance with those who were not. While the rebellion was slowly being defeated, it was equally clear that colonial rule from Britain was no longer sustainable. Relations with the US and the quest for a summit In the early 1950s, Britain was still attempting to remain a third major power on the world stage. This was `` the time when Britain stood up to the United States as strongly as she was ever to do in the postwar world ''. However, Churchill devoted much of his time in office to Anglo - American relations and attempted to maintain the Special Relationship. He made four official transatlantic visits to America during his second term as prime minister. Churchill and Eden visited Washington in January 1952. The Truman Administration was supporting the plans for a European Defence Community ( EDC ), hoping that this would allow controlled West German rearmament and enable American troop reductions. Churchill affected to believe that the proposed EDC would not work, scoffing at the supposed difficulties of language. Churchill asked in vain for a US military commitment to support Britain 's position in Egypt and Middle East ( where the Truman Administration had recently pressured Attlee not to intervene against Mossadeq in Iran ) ; this did not meet with American approval -- the US expected British support to fight communism in Korea, but saw any US commitment to the Middle East as supporting British imperialism, and were unpersuaded that this would help prevent pro-Soviet regimes from coming to power. By early 1953, the Cabinet 's Foreign Policy priority was Egypt and the nationalist, anti-imperialist Egyptian Revolution. After Stalin 's death, Churchill, the last of the wartime Big Three, wrote to Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had just assumed office as US President, on 11 March proposing a summit meeting with the Soviets ; Eisenhower wrote back pouring cold water on the suggestions as the Soviets might use it for propaganda. Some of Churchill 's colleagues hoped that he might retire after the Queen 's Coronation in May 1953. Eden wrote to his son on 10 April `` W gets daily older & is apt to... waste a great deal of time... the outside world has little idea how difficult that becomes. Please make me retire before I am 80 ! '' However, Eden 's serious illness ( he nearly died after a series of botched operations on his bile duct ) allowed Churchill to take control of foreign affairs from April 1953. After further discouragement from President Eisenhower ( this was the McCarthy era in the US, in which Secretary of State Dulles took a Manichean view of the Cold War ), Churchill announced his plans in the House of Commons on 11 May. The US Embassy in London noted that this was a rare occasion on which Churchill did not mention Anglo - American solidarity in a speech. Ministers like Lord Salisbury ( acting Foreign Secretary ) and Nutting were concerned at the irritation caused to the Americans and the French, although Selwyn Lloyd supported Churchill 's initiative, as did most Conservatives. In his diary a year later, Eden wrote of Churchill 's actions with fury. Stroke and resignation Churchill had suffered a mild stroke while on holiday in the south of France in the summer of 1949. By the time he formed his next government he was slowing down noticeably enough for George VI, as early as December 1951, to consider inviting Churchill to retire in the following year in favour of Anthony Eden, but it is not recorded if the King made that approach before his own death in February 1952. The strain of carrying the Premiership and Foreign Office contributed to his second stroke at 10 Downing Street after dinner on the evening of 23 June 1953. Despite being partially paralysed down one side, he presided over a Cabinet meeting the next morning without anybody noticing his incapacity. Thereafter his condition deteriorated, and it was thought that he might not survive the weekend. Had Eden been fit, Churchill 's premiership would most likely have been over. News of this was kept from the public and from Parliament, who were told that Churchill was suffering from exhaustion. He went to his country home, Chartwell, to recuperate, and by the end of June he astonished his doctors by being able, dripping with perspiration, to lift himself upright from his chair. He joked that news of his illness had chased the trial of the serial killer John Christie off the front pages. Churchill was still keen to pursue a meeting with the Soviets and was open to the idea of a reunified Germany. He refused to condemn the Soviet crushing of East Germany, commenting on 10 July 1953 that `` The Russians were surprisingly patient about the disturbances in East Germany ''. He thought this might have been the reason for the removal of Beria. Churchill returned to public life in October 1953 to make a speech at the Conservative Party conference at Margate. In December 1953, Churchill met Eisenhower in Bermuda. Churchill was annoyed about friction between Eden and Dulles ( June 1954 ). On the trip home from another Anglo - American conference, the diplomat Pierson Dixon compared US actions in Guatemala to Soviet policy in Korea and Greece, causing Churchill to retort that Guatemala was a `` bloody place '' he 'd `` never heard of ''. Churchill was still keen for a trip to Moscow, and threatened to resign, provoking a crisis in the Cabinet when Lord Salisbury threatened to resign if Churchill had his way. In the end the Soviets proposed a five - power conference, which did not meet until after Churchill had retired. By the autumn Churchill was again postponing his resignation. Eden, now partially recovered from his operations, became a major figure on the world stage in 1954, helping to negotiate peace in Indo - China, an agreement with Egypt and to broker an agreement between the countries of Western Europe after the French rejection of the EDC. Aware that he was slowing down both physically and mentally, Churchill at last retired as prime minister in 1955 and was succeeded by Anthony Eden. At the time of his departure, he was considered to have had the longest ministerial career in modern British politics. Retirement and death : 1955 -- 1965 Main article : Later life of Winston Churchill Churchill spent much of his retirement at his home Chartwell in Kent. He purchased it in 1922 after his daughter Mary was born. Elizabeth II offered to create Churchill Duke of London, but this was declined as a result of the objections of his son Randolph, who would have inherited the title on his father 's death. He did, however, accept a knighthood as Garter Knight. After leaving the premiership, Churchill spent less time in parliament until he stood down at the 1964 general election. Churchill spent most of his retirement at Chartwell and at his home in Hyde Park Gate, in London, and became a habitué of high society on the French Riviera. Although publicly supportive, Churchill was privately scathing about Eden 's Suez Invasion. His wife believed that he had made a number of visits to the US in the following years in an attempt to help repair Anglo - American relations. By the time of the 1959 general election Churchill seldom attended the House of Commons. Despite the Conservative landslide, his own majority fell by more than a thousand. It is widely believed that as his mental and physical faculties decayed, he began to lose a battle he had supposedly long fought against depression. However, the nature, incidence and severity of Churchill 's depression is uncertain. Anthony Montague Browne, Personal Secretary to Churchill during the latter 's final ten years of life, wrote that he never heard Churchill refer to depression, and he disputed that the former prime minister suffered from depression. There was speculation that Churchill may have had Alzheimer 's disease in his last years, although others maintain that his reduced mental capacity was simply the cumulative result of the ten strokes and the increasing deafness he suffered from during the period 1949 -- 1963. In 1963, US President John F. Kennedy, acting under authorisation granted by an Act of Congress, proclaimed him an Honorary Citizen of the United States, but he was unable to attend the White House ceremony. Despite poor health, Churchill still tried to remain active in public life, and on St George 's Day 1964, sent a message of congratulations to the surviving veterans of the 1918 Zeebrugge Raid who were attending a service of commemoration in Deal, Kent, where two casualties of the raid were buried in the Hamilton Road Cemetery. On 15 January 1965, Churchill suffered a severe stroke and died at his London home nine days later, aged 90, on the morning of Sunday, 24 January 1965, 70 years to the day after his own father 's death. Funeral Churchill 's grave at St Martin 's Church, Bladon Churchill 's funeral plan had been initiated in 1953, after he suffered a major stroke, under the name Operation Hope Not. The purpose was to commemorate Churchill `` on a scale befitting his position in history '', as Queen Elizabeth II declared. The funeral was the largest state funeral in world history up to that time, with representatives from 112 nations ; only China did not send an emissary. In Europe, 350 million people, including 25 million in Britain, watched the funeral on television, and only the Republic of Ireland did not broadcast it live. By decree of the Queen, his body lay in state in Westminster Hall for three days and a state funeral service was held at St Paul 's Cathedral on 30 January 1965. One of the largest assemblages of statesmen in the world was gathered for the service. Unusually, the Queen attended the funeral because Churchill was the first commoner since William Gladstone to lie - in - State. As Churchill 's lead - lined coffin passed up the River Thames from Tower Pier to Festival Pier on the MV Havengore, dockers lowered their crane jibs in a salute. The Royal Artillery fired the 19 - gun salute due a head of government, and the RAF staged a fly - by of sixteen English Electric Lightning fighters. The coffin was then taken the short distance to Waterloo station where it was loaded onto a specially prepared and painted carriage as part of the funeral train for its rail journey to Hanborough, seven miles northwest of Oxford. Sir Winston Churchill 's funeral train passing Clapham Junction The funeral train of Pullman coaches carrying his family mourners was hauled by Battle of Britain class steam locomotive No. 34051 Winston Churchill. In the fields along the route, and at the stations through which the train passed, thousands stood in silence to pay their last respects. At Churchill 's request, he was buried in the family plot at St Martin 's Church, Bladon, near Woodstock, not far from his birthplace at Blenheim Palace. Churchill 's funeral van -- former Southern Railway van S2464S -- is now part of a preservation project with the Swanage Railway, having been repatriated to the UK in 2007 from the US, to where it had been exported in 1965. Later in 1965 a memorial to Churchill, cut by the engraver Reynolds Stone, was placed in Westminster Abbey. Artist, historian, and writer Allies ( 1995 ) by Lawrence Holofcener, a sculptural group depicting Franklin D. Roosevelt and Churchill in New Bond Street, London Main articles : Winston Churchill as historian and Winston Churchill as writer Churchill was an accomplished amateur artist and took great pleasure in painting, especially after his resignation as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1915. He found a haven in art to overcome the spells of depression which some say he suffered throughout his life. William Rees - Mogg wrote `` In his own life, he had to suffer the ' black dog ' of depression. In his landscapes and still lifes there is no sign of depression. '' Churchill was persuaded and taught to paint by his artist friend, Paul Maze, whom he met during the First World War. Maze was a great influence on Churchill 's painting and became a lifelong painting companion. Churchill 's best known paintings are impressionist landscapes, many of which were painted while on holiday in the South of France, Egypt or Morocco. Using the pseudonym `` Charles Morin '', he continued his hobby throughout his life and painted hundreds of paintings, many of which are on show in the studio at Chartwell as well as private collections. Most of his paintings are oil - based and feature landscapes, but he also did a number of interior scenes and portraits. In 1925 Lord Duveen, Kenneth Clark, and Oswald Birley selected his Winter Sunshine as the prize winner in a contest for anonymous amateur artists. Due to obvious time constraints, Churchill attempted only one painting during the Second World War. He completed the painting from the tower of the Villa Taylor in Marrakesh. Some of his paintings can today be seen in the Wendy and Emery Reves Collection at the Dallas Museum of Art. Emery Reves was Churchill 's American publisher, as well as a close friend and Churchill often visited Emery and his wife Wendy Russell Reves at their villa, La Pausa, in the South of France, which had originally been built in 1927 for Coco Chanel by her lover the 2nd Duke of Westminster. The villa was rebuilt within the museum in 1985 with a gallery of Churchill paintings and memorabilia. Gunther estimated in 1939 that Churchill earned $100,000 a year ( $1.39 million in 2016 ) from writing and lecturing, but that `` of this he spends plenty ''. Despite his lifelong fame and upper - class origins, Churchill always struggled to keep his income at a level which would fund his extravagant lifestyle. MPs before 1946 received only a nominal salary ( and in fact did not receive anything at all until the Parliament Act 1911 ) so many had secondary professions from which to earn a living. From his first book in 1898 until his second stint as Prime Minister, Churchill 's income while out of office was almost entirely from writing books and opinion pieces for newspapers and magazines, among them the fortnightly columns that appeared in the Evening Standard from 1936 warning of the rise of Hitler and the danger of the policy of appeasement. Churchill was a prolific writer, often under the pen name `` Winston S. Churchill '', which he used by agreement with the American novelist of the same name to avoid confusion between their works. His output included a novel, two biographies, three volumes of memoirs, and several histories. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953 `` for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values ''. Two of his most famous works, published after his first premiership brought his international fame to new heights, were his six - volume memoir The Second World War and A History of the English - Speaking Peoples ; a four - volume history covering the period from Caesar 's invasions of Britain ( 55 BC ) to the beginning of the First World War ( 1914 ). A number of volumes of Churchill 's speeches were also published. the first of which, Into Battle, was published in the United States under the title Blood, Sweat and Tears, and was included in Life Magazine 's list of the 100 outstanding books of 1924 -- 1944. Churchill was an amateur bricklayer, constructing buildings and garden walls at his country home at Chartwell, where he also bred butterflies. As part of this hobby Churchill joined the Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers, but was expelled due to his revived membership in the Conservative Party. Churchill was passionate about science and technology. When he was 22 he read Charles Darwin 's On the Origin of Species and a primer on physics. In the 1920s and 1930s, he wrote popular - science essays on topics such as evolution and fusion power. In an unpublished manuscript, Are We Alone in the Universe ?, he investigates the possibility of extraterrestrial life in a thoroughly scientific way. Political ideology Churchill was a career politician, with biographer Robert Rhodes James describing him as a man `` who was to devote himself for his entire adult life to the profession of politics ''. In James ' view, Churchill was `` fundamentally a very conservative man '', and that this `` basic conservatism was a conspicuous feature of his political attitudes ''. Gilbert described Churchill as being `` liberal in outlook '' throughout his life, although Jenkins thought that `` there is room for argument about whether he was ever an engrained philosophical Liberal ''. Liberalism is not Socialism, and never will be. There is a great gulf fixed. It is not a gulf of method, it is a gulf of principle... Socialism seeks to pull down wealth ; Liberalism seeks to raise up poverty. Socialism would destroy private interests ; Liberalism would preserve private interests in the only way in which they can be safely and justly preserved, namely by reconciling them with public right. Socialism would kill enterprise ; Liberalism would rescue enterprise from the trammels of privilege and preference... Socialism exalts the rule ; Liberalism exalts the man. Socialism attacks capital ; Liberalism attacks monopoly. -- Winston Churchill on liberalism and socialism, 14 May 1908 Gilbert described Churchill as `` a radical '' who believed that the state was needed to ensure `` minimum standards of life, labour and social well - being for all citizens ''. Many Liberals doubted the conviction of his radicalism when it came to social reform. Churchill 's speeches on liberalism emphasised the retention of Britain 's existing social structure and the need for `` gradualness '' rather than revolutionary change ; he accepted and endorsed the existence of class divisions in British society. Churchill sought social reform not out of a desire to challenge the existing social structure but out of an attempt to preserve it. Charles Masterman, a Liberal reformer who knew Churchill, stated that the latter `` desired in England, a state of things where a benign upper class dispensed benefits to an industrious, bien pensant, and grateful working class ''. In Jenkins ' view, Churchill 's privileged background prevented him from empathising with the poor, and instead he `` sympathize ( d ) with them from on high ''. As a minister, Churchill engaged in anti-socialist rhetoric, and sought to clearly differentiate socialism from liberalism. Although Churchill had upset both Edward VII and George V in his political career, he always remained a firm monarchist, displaying a romanticised view of the British monarchy. Jenkins described Churchill 's opposition to protectionism as being based on a `` profound conviction '', although during his political career many questioned the sincerity of Churchill 's anti-protectionist beliefs. Although as Home Secretary he found sanctioning executions to be one of his most emotionally taxing tasks, he did not endorse the abolition of the death penalty. Churchill exhibited a romanticised view of the British Empire. Churchill was well disposed to Zionism. Links to political parties James described Churchill as having `` no permanent commitment to any '' party, and that his `` shifts of allegiance were never unconnected with his personal interests ''. When campaigning for his Oldham seat in 1899, Churchill referred to himself as a Conservative and a Tory Democrat ; the following year, he referred to Liberals as `` prigs, prudes, and faddists ''. In a 1902 letter to a fellow Conservative, Churchill stated that he had `` broad, tolerant, moderate views -- a longing for compromise and agreement -- a disdain for cant of all kinds -- a hatred for extremists whether they be Jingos or Pro-Boers ; and I confess the idea of a central party, fresher, freer, more efficient, yet, above all, loyal and patriotic, is very pleasing to my heart. '' This dream of a `` Centre Party '' that would bring together more moderate elements of the main British parties -- and thus remain permanently in office -- was a recurring one for Churchill. By 1903, he was increasingly dissatisfied with the Conservatives, in part due to their promotion of economic protectionism, but also because he had attracted the animosity of many party members and was likely aware that this might have prevented him gaining a Cabinet position under a Conservative government. The Liberal Party was then attracting growing support, and so his defection may have also have been influenced by personal ambition. In a 1903 letter, he referred to himself as an `` English Liberal... I hate the Tory party, their men, their words and their methods ''. Jenkins noted that, with Lloyd George, Churchill formed `` a partnership of constructive radicalism, two social reforming New Liberals who had turned their backs on the old Gladstonian tradition of concentrating on libertarian political issues and leaving social conditions to look after themselves ''. Throughout his political career, Churchill 's relationship with the Conservative Party was stormy. Personal life Churchill firmly believed himself to be a man of destiny. Churchill biographers have described him as egocentric, brash, self - confident and self - centred. He had a good memory, and could be reckless. Describing Churchill 's `` ebullient personality '', Jenkins noted that in his youth, Churchill displayed `` impetuous self - centredness '' and `` rash courage ''. Jenkins added that Churchill displayed a `` self - confidence and determination always to go straight to the top '' when dealing with a situation, approaching the highest ranking official he could, while Rhodes James described him as `` a career politician, profoundly ambitious and eager for prominence ''. Jenkins stated that in his early parliamentary years, Churchill was `` often deliberately provocative '' ; Rhodes James called it `` deliberately aggressive ''. Rhodes James was of the view that, when speaking in the House of Commons, Churchill gave the impression of having a chip on his shoulder. His barbed rhetorical style earned him many enemies in parliament, and many Conservatives disliked him for his open criticism of Balfour and subsequent defection to the Liberals. Gilbert stated that in his early parliamentary career, Churchill reflected `` zeal, intelligence, and eagerness to learn ''. Churchill developed a reputation for being a heavy drinker of alcoholic beverages, although this was often over-exaggerated. In India, he enjoyed playing polo. Gilbert noted that Churchill 's literary style was `` outspoken, vigorous, with the written equivalent of a mischievous grin ''. Jenkins thought that Churchill was excited and exhilarated by war, but that he was never indifferent to the suffering that it caused. From childhood, Churchill had been unable to pronounce the letter s, verbalising it with a slur. This lateral lisp continued throughout his career, reported consistently by journalists of the time and later. Authors writing in the 1920s and 1930s, before sound recording became common, also mentioned Churchill having a stutter, describing it in terms such as `` severe '' or `` agonising ''. The Churchill Centre and Museum says the majority of records show his impediment was a lateral lisp, while Churchill 's stutter is a myth. His dentures were specially designed to aid his speech. After many years of public speeches carefully prepared not only to inspire, but also to avoid hesitations, he could finally state, `` My impediment is no hindrance ''. Rhodes James thought that, in part because of his speech impediment, Churchill was `` not a natural impromptu speaker ''. Churchill therefore memorised speeches before he gave them. Gilbert believed that during the early 1900s, when Churchill worked as a professional speech giver, he mastered `` every aspect of the art of speech - making ''. Jenkins noted that `` Churchill lived by phrase - making. He thought rhetorically, and was constantly in danger of his policy being made by his phrases rather than vice versa. '' For Rhodes James, Churchill was `` particularly effective '' at `` invective and raillery '' and that he was `` at his most effective when he made deliberate use of humour and sarcasm ''. For Jenkins, Churchill was `` singularly lacking in inhibition or concealment '', and for Rhodes James he `` lacked any capacity for intrigue and was refreshingly innocent and straightforward ''. Jenkins stated that Churchill `` naturally had a lively sympathy for the underdog, particularly against the middle - dog, provided, and it was quite a big proviso, that his own position as a top - dog was unchallenged ''. He was a particular fan of polo, a sport that he played while stationed in India. Churchill displayed particular loyalty to his family and close friends. For instance, when Lloyd George was going through the Marconi scandal, one of the lowest points of his career, Churchill supported him. One of his closest friends, even when he was a Liberal, was the Conservative MP F.E. Smith. In 1911, he became close with Grey, and another longstanding friend was Violet Asquith. Like his father, Churchill faced jibes that all of his friends were Jewish. In 1900, he retired from the regular army, and in 1902 joined the Imperial Yeomanry, where he was commissioned as a Captain in the Queen 's Own Oxfordshire Hussars on 4 January 1902. In April 1905, he was promoted to Major and appointed to command of the Henley Squadron of the Queen 's Own Oxfordshire Hussars. In September 1916, he transferred to the territorial reserves of officers, where he remained until retiring in 1924 as a Major. On 24 May 1901 he was initiated into Freemasonry at Studholme Lodge No. 1591, which at the time met in the Regent Masonic Hall at the Cafe Royal, London, passed to the Second Degree on 19 July, and raised to the Third Degree on 25 March 1902. Marriage and children Further information : Descendants of Winston Churchill A young Winston Churchill and fiancée Clementine Hozier shortly before their marriage in 1908 Churchill met his future wife, Clementine Hozier, in 1904 at a ball in Crewe House, home of the Earl of Crewe and Crewe 's wife Margaret Primrose ( daughter of Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, and Hannah Rothschild ). In March 1908, they met again at a dinner party hosted by Lady St Helier. Churchill found himself seated beside Clementine, and they soon began a lifelong romance. He proposed to Clementine during a house party at Blenheim Palace on 11 August 1908, in a small summer house known as the Temple of Diana. On 12 September 1908, he and Clementine were married in St. Margaret 's, Westminster. A.G. Edwards, the Bishop of St Asaph, conducted the service. Their first child, Diana, was born in London on 11 July 1909. After the pregnancy, Clementine moved to Sussex to recover, while Diana stayed in London with her nanny. On 28 May 1911, their second child, Randolph, was born at 33 Eccleston Square. Their third child, Sarah, was born on 7 October 1914 at Admiralty House. The birth was marked with anxiety for Clementine, as Churchill had been sent to Antwerp by the Cabinet to `` stiffen the resistance of the beleaguered city '' after news that the Belgians intended to surrender the town. Clementine gave birth to her fourth child, Marigold Frances Churchill, on 15 November 1918, four days after the official end of the First World War. In the early days of August 1921, the Churchills ' children were entrusted to a French nursery governess in Kent, Mlle Rose. Clementine travelled to Eaton Hall to play tennis with Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, and his family. While still under the care of Mlle Rose, Marigold had a cold but was reported to have recovered from the illness. As the illness progressed with hardly any notice, it turned into septicaemia. Rose sent for Clementine, but the illness proved fatal on 23 August 1921, and Marigold was buried in the Kensal Green Cemetery three days later. On 15 September 1922, the Churchills ' last child, Mary, was born. Later that month, the Churchills bought Chartwell, which would be their home until Winston 's death in 1965. According to Jenkins, Churchill was an `` enthusiastic and loving father '' but one who expected too much of his children. The Churchills were married for 57 years. Churchill was aware of the strain that his political career placed on his marriage. Relationship with Lady Castlerosse In autumn 1985, Churchill 's former private secretary, Sir John Colville, was interviewed by archivists at Churchill College, Cambridge. During the interview Colville reported that Churchill had had a ' brief affair ' with Doris, Viscountess Castlerosse, a glamorous aristocrat. During the 1930s, while he was out of political office, Churchill spent four holidays with Castlerosse, in the south of France. Churchill painted at least two portraits of Castlerosse. Following the revival of his political career, in the late 1930s, Churchill ended the relationship. In the late 1950s, Castlerosse 's love letters to Churchill were revealed to Clementine. Churchill 's relationship with Castlerosse was the subject of a documentary shown on Channel 4, on 4 March 2018. Religion Churchill was christened on December 27, 1874, in the chapel of Blenheim Palace, and was raised in the Church of England ; however, his religious beliefs as an adult have been described as agnostic. A scholarly article published in 2013 sums up Churchill 's religious views this way : He did not attend worship services regularly, choosing rather to grace the cathedrals only for state occasions and rites of passage. The Bible he read merely `` out of curiosity '' and discussions of Church dogma were, safe to say, near the bottom of his to - do list. Furthermore, Churchill entered into a period of anti-religious fervor during his early twenties. His attitude mellowed as he aged, but the skepticism he adopted then never fully dissipated. It would appear fair to say that, on a strictly intellectual level, Churchill was an agnostic. On the other hand, he remained sympathetic to religious belief and, in particular, to the Christian faith, and tended sincerely to draw on its resources as needed, irrespective of any logical contradiction with his formal doubts. The hymns and worship that Churchill imbibed in his youth embedded in him an emotional and spiritual connection with the Church of England -- albeit one that stood at arms ' length to its teachings. He once described his relationship with the Church as a buttress : he supported it from the outside. He was an adamant defender of Christian civilization and earnestly advocated the need for Christian ethics in a democratic society. In 1898, in a letter calmly written while facing the prospect of death in battle, he wrote to his mother, `` I do not accept the Christian or any other form of religious belief ''. In a letter to his cousin he referred to religion as `` a delicious narcotic '' and expressed a preference for Protestantism over Roman Catholicism, relating that he felt it `` a step nearer Reason ''. During the Boer War, Churchill often prayed during the heat of battle, but he admitted that he thought it was an unreasonable thing to do. He reflected that : `` The practice ( of prayer ) was comforting and the reasoning led nowhere. I therefore acted in accordance with my feelings without troubling to square such conduct with the conclusions of thought ''. In 1907, Churchill received a letter from his future sister - in - law, Lady Gwendoline Bertie, in which she pleaded : `` Please do n't become converted to Islam ; I have noticed in your disposition a tendency to orientalise ( fascination with the Orient and Islam ), Pasha - like tendencies, I really have ''. However, Gwendoline may have been joking, or his `` orientalizing '' tendency may have been merely whimsical, for Churchill had seen Muslim fanaticism at close hand during his army service in the Sudan Campaign. In The River War ( 1899 ), his account of the conflict, he had written at age 24 : `` Individual Muslims may show splendid qualities... but the influence of the religion paralyses those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world ''. In October 1940, however, Churchill gave `` happy approval '' to the War Cabinet 's allocation of £ 100,000 towards the construction of the London Central Mosque in Regent 's Park. Pets and animals See also : Winston Churchill 's pets Churchill was an animal lover and owned a wide range of animals, including dogs, cats, horses, pigs, fish, and black swans, many of which were kept at Chartwell. Jock Colville recounted how Churchill as wartime Prime Minister would talk to his cats about the issues he was contemplating. Colville presented Churchill with his last cat, called Jock, on his 88th birthday and Churchill made provision in the Chartwell National Trust that it would always house a cat called Jock. Honours The statue of Churchill ( 1973 ) by Ivor Roberts - Jones in Parliament Square, London Coat of arms of Winston Churchill Main article : Honours of Winston Churchill In addition to the honour of a state funeral, Churchill received a wide range of awards and other honours, including the following, chronologically : Churchill was appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 1907. He received the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1922. He was awarded the Territorial Decoration for his long service in the Territorial Army in 1924. Churchill was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society ( FRS ) in 1941 In 1941, he was appointed to the Privy Council of Canada. In 1945, while Churchill was mentioned by Halvdan Koht as one of seven appropriate candidates for the Nobel Prize in Peace, the nomination went to Cordell Hull. He received the Order of Merit in 1946. In 1953, Churchill was invested as a Knight of the Garter ( becoming Sir Winston Churchill, KG ), and awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his numerous published works, especially his six - volume set The Second World War. In 1958, Churchill College, Cambridge was founded in his honour. In 1963, Churchill was named an Honorary Citizen of the United States by Public Law 88 - 6 / H.R. 4374 ( approved / enacted 9 April 1963 ). On 29 November 1995, during a visit to the United Kingdom, President Bill Clinton of the United States announced to both Houses of Parliament that an Arleigh Burke - class destroyer would be named the USS Winston S. Churchill. This was the first United States warship to be named after an Englishman since the end of the American Revolution. In a BBC poll of the `` 100 Greatest Britons '' in 2002, he was proclaimed `` The Greatest of Them All '' based on approximately a million votes from BBC viewers. Churchill was also rated as one of the most influential leaders in history by TIME. Military ranks and appointments Churchill inspecting the 4th Queen 's Own Hussars, of which he was the Colonel of the Regiment, in Italy during 1944 Churchill in his air commodore 's uniform, circa 1940 Churchill in his 4th Queen 's Own Hussars colonel 's uniform crossing the Rhine, 25 March 1945 Churchill held substantive ranks in the British Army and in the Territorial Army since he was commissioned as a Cornet in the 4th Queen 's Own Hussars until his retirement from the Territorial Army in 1924 with the rank of Major, having held the temporary rank of Lieutenant - Colonel during the Great War. In addition he held many honorary military appointments. In 1939, he was appointed as an Honorary Air Commodore in the Auxiliary Air Force and was awarded honorary wings in 1943. In 1941, he was made a Regimental Colonel of the 4th Hussars. During the Second World War, he frequently wore his uniform as an Air Commodore and as a Colonel of the Hussars. After the war he was appointed as the Colonel in Chief of the 4th Hussars, Queen 's Royal Irish Hussars and the Queen 's Own Oxfordshire Hussars. In 1913, he was appointed an Elder Brother of Trinity House as result of his appointment as First Lord of the Admiralty. He held the post of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports from 1941 until his death and in that capacity was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 89th ( Cinque Ports ) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, on 20 February 1942. In 1949, he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant ( DL ) of Kent. Resuming, Churchill held the following military ranks and appointments : Cornet, later Lieutenant, 4th Queen 's Own Hussars ( 1895 ) Captain, Queen 's Own Oxfordshire Hussars ( 1902 ) Major, 2nd Bn / Grenadier Guards ( provisional, December 1915 ) Lt. Colonel, 6th Bn / Royal Scots Fusiliers ( provisional, January -- March 1916 ) Major, Queen 's Own Oxfordshire Hussars, Territorial Army ( 1916 -- retired 1924 ) Air Commodore, 615th ( Co. of Surrey ) Fighter Sqn Royal Auxiliary Air Force ( honorary, 1939 ) Honorary Colonel, 63rd Oxfordshire Yeomanry Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery ( 1939 ) Honorary Colonel, 6th Bn / Royal Scots Fusiliers ( 1940 ) Regimental Colonel, 4th Queen 's Own Hussars ( 1941 ) Colonel - in - Chief, 4th Queen 's Own Hussars ( 1941 ), later Queen 's Royal Irish Hussars ( 1958 ) Colonel - in - Chief, Queen 's Own Oxfordshire Hussars ( 1941 ) Honorary Colonel, 5th ( Cinque Ports ) Bn / Royal Sussex Rgt ( 1941 ), later 4th / 5th Bn / Royal Sussex Rgt. ( 1943 ) Honorary Colonel, 89th ( Cinque Ports ) Heavy Anti-Airctaft Rgt, Royal Artillery ( 1942 ) Honorary Colonel, 4th Bn / Essex Rgt, Territorial Army ( 1945 ) Honorary Colonel, 6th ( Cinque Ports ) Cadet Bn, the Buffs ( 1946 ) Honorary Colonel, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire Yeomanty, Royal Artillery ( 1950 ) Reputation and legacy The historian Robert Rhodes James stated that Churchill had lived an `` exceptionally long, complex, and controversial life '', one which -- in the realm of British parliamentary politics -- was comparable only to Gladstone 's in its `` length, drama and incident ''. Churchill 's reputation among the general British public remains high : he was voted number one in a 2002 BBC poll of the 100 Greatest Britons of all time. Throughout his career, Churchill 's outspokenness earned him enemies, and his legacy continues to stir intense debate among writers and historians. By the time he entered the House of Commons as an MP, he was already controversial, perceived by many as `` an adventurer and a medal - hunter ''. Up until 1939, his approach to politics resulted in there developing a widespread `` mistrust and dislike '' of him, an attitude exacerbated by his repeated party defections. When First Lord of the Admiralty, many `` critics denigrated him '' as being `` reckless, ignorant, and unprincipled, a political upstart with no understanding of the glorious traditions and methods of work of the Royal Navy ''. Haffner believed that Churchill had an `` affinity with war '', exhibiting `` a profound and innate understanding of it. '' In his later career, Churchill gained a reputation as being the last Victorian in British politics ; Jenkins thought that this was not a fair assessment, stating that he remained `` essentially an Edwardian rather than a Victorian '' in his attitudes. Jenkins also remarked that Churchill had `` a substantial record as a social reformer '' for his work in the first part of his parliamentary career ; similarly, Rhodes James thought that as a social reformer `` his achievements were considerable ''. In Rhodes James ' view, this had been achieved because `` as a minister ( Churchill ) had three outstanding qualities. He worked hard ; he put his proposals efficiently through the Cabinet and Parliament ; he carried his Department with him. These ministerial merits are not as common as might be thought. '' Statue of Churchill in Westerham, Kent Between 1966 and 1988, an eight - volume biography of Churchill was published, started by Randolph Churchill but completed largely by Martin Gilbert after the former 's death in 1968. Rhodes James suggested that this official biography was a `` labour of love '' for Randolph Churchill, and that `` what was so admirable in the son, was... less desirable in the biographer. '' According to Allen Packwood, director of the Churchill Archives Centre, even during his own lifetime Churchill was an `` incredibly complex, contradictory and larger - than - life human being, '' who frequently wrestled with those contradictions. Notably, his strongly held and outspoken views on race have frequently been highlighted, quoted and strongly criticised. However, historian Richard Toye has observed that in the context of the era, Churchill was not `` particularly unique '' in having strong opinions on race and the superiority of white peoples, even if many of his contemporaries did not subscribe to them. While staunchly opposed to labour unions and holding Communist agitation responsible for the Labour movement during the 1920s, he supported social reform, if more in the spirit of Victorian paternalism. From early on, his reputation as an unbending imperialist was well established. At the November 1921 cabinet meeting where a final decision on a proposal to retrocede Weihaiwei to China was to be made, he, alone with George Curzon, another uncompromising imperialist, adamantly opposed the proposal, no matter how worthless the territory was known to be. He lamented Britain 's historic readiness to barter away places such as Java and Corfu, asking `` Why melt down the capital collected by our forebears to please a lot of pacifists ? '' Churchill 's attitudes towards and policies regarding Indians and Britain 's rule of the subcontinent are frequently criticised, and have left a lasting and highly contentious mark on his legacy. Historian Walter Reid, who has written admiringly about Churchill 's premiership and `` absolutely crucial role during the Second World War, '' has however acknowledged that Churchill `` was very wrong in relation to India, where his conduct fell far below his usual level. '' Reid further observes that while it remains `` tough to give a nuanced view on Churchill in a few words, '' Churchill 's efforts and those of several fellow back - bench parliamentarians in the 1930s to manipulate the 1935 Government of India Act further entrenched religious and political divisions amongst Hindus, Muslims and the Indian princely rulers. Cultural depictions Main article : Cultural depictions of Winston Churchill Winston Churchill has been regularly portrayed in film, television, radio and other media. The depictions range from minor character to the biographical centerpiece, exceeding 30 films, more than two dozen television shows, several stage productions, and countless books. See also List of people on the cover of Time magazine ( 1920s ) ; 14 April 1923, 11 May 1925 Politics of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts Biography portal Conservatism portal World War II portal United Kingdom portal References Notes ^ Jump up to : `` Winston Churchill : greatest British hero or a warmongering villain ? ''. The Week. 23 January 2015. Jump up ^ `` Did Churchill Cause the Bengal Famine ? ''. The Churchill Project. 8 April 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2018. Jump up ^ Hirsch, Afua ( 21 March 2018 ). `` If you talk about Russian propaganda, remember : Britain has myths too ''. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 15 April 2018. Jump up ^ Raw, Louise ( 23 January 2018 ). `` Feel free to enjoy Gary Oldman 's portrayal of Churchill but do n't forget his problematic past ''. The Independent. Retrieved 15 April 2018. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 1 ; Best 2001, p. 1 ; Jenkins 2001, p. 5 ; Robbins 2014, p. 1. Jump up ^ Johnson, Paul ( 2010 ). Churchill. New York : Penguin. p. 4. ISBN 0143117998. Jump up ^ Best 2001, p. 1. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 1 ; Jenkins 2001, pp. 3, 5. Jump up ^ Best 2001, p. 2 ; Haffner 2003, p. 2. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 4. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 1 ; Best 2001, p. 3 ; Jenkins 2001, p. 4 ; Robbins 2014, p. 2. Jump up ^ Best 2001, p. 4 ; Jenkins 2001, pp. 5 -- 6. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, pp. 5, 7 ; Robbins 2014, p. 2. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, pp. 6 -- 7. Jump up ^ Haffner 2003, p. 15. Jump up ^ Haffner 2003, p. 4. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 1. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 2 ; Jenkins 2001, p. 7. ^ Jump up to : Jenkins 2001, p. 7. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 8. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 10 ; Haffner 2003, p. 13. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 2 ; Jenkins 2001, p. 8. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 2. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, pp. 2 -- 3 ; Jenkins 2001, p. 10. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, pp. 16, 29. Jump up ^ Best 2001, p. 6. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, pp. 3 -- 5 ; Haffner 2003, p. 12. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 4. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 5. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, pp. 6 -- 8 ; Haffner 2003, pp. 12 -- 13. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, pp. 17 -- 19. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, pp. 20 -- 21. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, pp. 25, 29. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 32. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 22 ; Jenkins 2001, p. 19. ^ Jump up to : Jenkins 2001, p. 21. ^ Jump up to : Gilbert 1991, p. 35. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, pp. 37 -- 39. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, pp. 32 -- 33, 37 ; Jenkins 2001, p. 20 ; Haffner 2003, p. 15. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 37 ; Jenkins 2001, p. 20. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 45. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 46. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, pp. 48 -- 49 ; Jenkins 2001, p. 21 ; Haffner 2003, p. 32. Jump up ^ Haffner 2003, p. 18. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 51 ; Jenkins 2001, p. 21. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 53. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 62 ; Jenkins 2001, p. 28. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, pp. 56, 58 -- 60 ; Jenkins 2001, pp. 28 -- 29 ; Robbins 2014, pp. 14 -- 15. 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Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 290. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, pp. 293, 298 -- 99. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, pp. 291 -- 92. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, pp. 304, 310. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 309. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, pp. 316 -- 16. Jump up ^ Jenkins, pp. 282 -- 88 Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, pp. 319 -- 20. Jump up ^ Jenkins, Roy ( 2001 ). `` Finished at Forty ? ''. Churchill. London : Macmillan. pp. 284 -- 288. ISBN 0333782909. Jump up ^ `` No. 29520 ''. The London Gazette ( Supplement ). 24 March 1916. p. 3260. ^ Jump up to : `` 20th and early 21st Century ''. Army.mod.uk. Archived from the original on 1 April 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2011. Jump up ^ Jenkins, Roy ( 2001 ). `` An Improbable Colonel and a Misjudged Re-entry ''. Churchill. London : Macmillan. pp. 301 -- 302. ISBN 0333782909. Jump up ^ Jenkins, p. 309 ^ Jump up to : Myers, Kevin ( 3 September 2009 ). `` The greatest 20th century beneficiary of popular mythology has been the cad Churchill ''. The Irish Independent. Retrieved 11 July 2014. Jump up ^ Ferris, John. `` Treasury Control, the Ten Year Rule and British Service Policies, 1919 -- 1924 ''. The Historical Journal, Vol. 30, No. 4. ( December 1987 ), pp. 859 -- 83 Jump up ^ Jenkins, Roy ( 2001 ). `` A Relentless Writer ''. Churchill. London : Macmillan. p. 418. ISBN 0333782909. Jump up ^ Wallin, Jeffrey ; Williams, Juan ( 4 September 2001 ). `` Cover Story : Churchill 's Greatness ''. Churchill Centre. Archived from the original on 16 December 2003. Retrieved 26 February 2007. Jump up ^ Jordan, Anthony J. ( April 1995 ). Churchill, a founder of modern Ireland. Westport Books. pp. 70 -- 75. ISBN 978 - 0952444701. Retrieved 21 September 2011. Jump up ^ Jenkins, pp. 361 -- 65 ^ Jump up to : Douglas, R.M., ' Did Britain Use Chemical Weapons in Mandatory Iraq ? ', The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 81, No. 4 ( December 2009 ), pp. 859 -- 87 ^ Jump up to : Kersaudy, François Churchill and de Gaulle, Saddle Brook : Stratford Press, 1981, p. 27 ^ Jump up to : Kersaudy, François Churchill and de Gaulle, Saddle Brook : Stratford Press ( 1981 ), p. 28. ^ Jump up to : Hall, Douglas J. `` Churchill 's Elections ''. The Churchill Centre. Retrieved 28 August 2009. Jump up ^ Jenkins, Roy ( 2001 ). `` A Politician without a Party or a Seat ''. Churchill. London : Macmillan. pp. 382 -- 84. ISBN 0333782909. Jump up ^ Cook and Ramsden, By - Elections in British Politics, pp. 53 -- 61 Jump up ^ Cook, Chris. Sources in British Political History, 1900 -- 1951 ( Volume 1 ) ; Macmillan Press, 1975 p. 73 Jump up ^ British parliamentary election results 1918 -- 1949, Craig, F.W.S. Jump up ^ `` Winston Churchill and Parliamentary Democracy ''. Churchill Society for the Advancement of Parliamentary Democracy. Archived from the original on 11 February 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2014. Jump up ^ `` Budget Blunders : Mr Churchill and the Gold Standard ( 1925 ) ''. BBC News. 9 March 1999. Retrieved 2 December 2007. Jump up ^ James, p. 207 Jump up ^ James, p. 206 Jump up ^ `` Speeches -- Gold Standard Bill ''. The Churchill Centre. 4 May 1925. Archived from the original on 2 October 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2009. Jump up ^ Jenkins, p. 405 Jump up ^ Gilbert, pp. 146 -- 74 Jump up ^ Gilbert, p. 162 Jump up ^ Gilbert, p. 173 Jump up ^ Henderson, Hubert The Interwar Years and other papers. Clarendon Press Jump up ^ James 1970, p. 168 ^ Jump up to : Gilbert, Martin ( 2004 ). Winston Churchill : The Wilderness Years. London : Pimlico. ISBN 978 - 1844134182. Jump up ^ Books Written by Winston Churchill ( see Amid these Storms ), The Churchill Centre ( 2007 ). Jump up ^ 247 House of Commons Debates 5s col 755 ^ Jump up to : Myers, Kevin ( 6 August 2010 ). `` Seventy years on and the soundtrack to the summer of 1940 is filling Britain 's airwaves ''. The Irish Independent. Retrieved 7 November 2010. Jump up ^ Barczewsk, Stephanie, John Eglin, Stephen Heathorn, Michael Silvestri, and Michelle Tusan. Britain Since 1688 : A Nation in the World, p. 301 Jump up ^ Toye, Richard. Churchill 's Empire : The World That Made Him and the World He Made, p. 172 Jump up ^ Ferriter, Diarmuid ( 4 March 2017 ). `` Book Review -- Inglorious Empire : what the British did to India ''. The Irish Times. Jump up ^ `` Churchill took hardline on Gandhi ''. BBC News. 1 January 2006. Retrieved 12 April 2010. Jump up ^ James, p. 260 Jump up ^ Hansard 1803 -- 2005 ; HC Deb 26 January 1931 vol 247 cc 637 -- 762 Jump up ^ Gilbert, Martin. Winston S. Churchill : The Prophet of Truth : 1922 -- 1939. 1976 by C&T Publications, Ltd : p. 618 Jump up ^ Guha, Ramachandra ( 19 June 2005 ). `` Churchill and Gandhi ''. The Hindu. Chennai, India. 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Retrieved 5 March 2018. Jump up ^ Gilbert, Martin Gilbert ( 2008 ). `` Churchill and the Jews ''. Jump up ^ James, p. 329, quoting Churchill 's speech in the Commons Jump up ^ James, p. 408 Jump up ^ Taylor, A.J.P. Beaverbrook Hamish Hamilton 1972 p. 375 Jump up ^ Gilbert, p. 457 Jump up ^ Holmes, Richard ( 2005 ). In the footsteps of Churchill. Basic Books. p. 185. ISBN 978 - 0465030828. Jump up ^ Churchill, Winston. Great Contemporaries ( 1937 ), New York : GP Putnam Sons, Inc. p. 225. Jump up ^ for a history of The Focus see E. Spier Focus Wolff 1963 Jump up ^ Harold Nicolson 's letter to Vita Sackville - West ( his wife ) on 13 March summed up the situation : `` If we send an ultimatum to Germany she ought in all reason to climb down. But then she will not climb down and we shall have war... The people of this country absolutely refuse to have a war. We would be faced with a general strike if we suggested such a thing. We shall therefore have to climb down ignominiously '', Diaries and Letters 1930 -- 1939, p. 249 Jump up ^ James, pp. 333 -- 37 Jump up ^ The Origins of the Second World War p. 153 Jump up ^ James 1970, pp. 263 -- 64 ^ Jump up to : Charmley 1993, pp. 314 -- 15 ^ Jump up to : James 1970, pp. 265 -- 66 Jump up ^ The Gathering Storm, pp. 178 -- 79, 276 Jump up ^ `` The Locust Speech ''. Churchill Society. Retrieved 28 August 2013. Jump up ^ James 1970, p. 343 Jump up ^ Smith, Frederick, 2nd Earl of Birkenhead ( 1969 ). Walter Monckton. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 129. Jump up ^ Middlemas, K.R. ; Barnes, J. ( 1969 ). Stanley Baldwin. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 999. Jump up ^ The Gathering Storm pp. 170 -- 71. Others including Citrine who chaired the meeting wrote that Churchill did not make such a speech. Citrine Men and Work Hutchinson 1964 p. 357 Jump up ^ James, pp. 349 -- 51, where the text of the statement is given. Jump up ^ Beaverbrook, Lord ; Edited by Taylor, A.J.P. ( 1966 ). The Abdication of King Edward VIII. London : Hamish Hamilton. Jump up ^ Cooke, Alistair. ' Edward VIII ' in Six Men, Bodley Head ( 1977 ). Jump up ^ Macmillan, H. The Blast of War Macmillan 1970 Jump up ^ The Gathering Storm p. 171 Jump up ^ Taylor, A.J.P. English History ( 1914 -- 1945 ), Hamish Hamilton ( 1961 ), p. 404. Jump up ^ James, p. 353 Jump up ^ These factions were headed by Anthony Eden and Leo Amery James, p. 428 ^ Jump up to : Blake, Robert ( 1993 ). `` How Churchill Became Prime Minister ''. In Blake, Robert B. ; Louis, William Roger. Churchill. Oxford : Clarendon Press. pp. 264, 270 -- 71. ISBN 0198206267. ^ Jump up to : James, Robert Rhodes ( 1993 ). `` Churchill the Parliamentarian, Orator, and Statesman ''. In Blake, Robert B. ; Louis, William Roger. Churchill. Oxford : Clarendon Press. pp. 513, 515 -- 17. ISBN 0198206267. 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( Gilbert repeats the tale as fact on p. 1113 of the 1922 -- 39 volume of his biography, but gives no source ; on p. 232 of In Search of Churchill, in a section on apocryphal sayings attributed to Churchill, he mentions how he was unable to locate documentary evidence to confirm it despite several searches. ) Jump up ^ Churchill, Winston. The Second World War ( abridged edition ), p. 163. Pimlico ( 2002 ) ; ISBN 0712667024. Jump up ^ Brendon, Piers. `` The Churchill Papers : Biographical History ''. Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge. Retrieved 26 February 2007. Jump up ^ Lunde 2009, pp. 11 -- 14 Jump up ^ Kersaudy, François ( 1995 ). `` allierte planer ''. In Dahl ; Hjeltnes ; Nøkleby ; Ringdal ; Sørensen. Norsk krigsleksikon 1940 -- 45 ( in Norwegian ). Oslo : Cappelen. pp. 17 -- 18. ISBN 8202141389. Jump up ^ Self, Robert ( 2006 ). Neville Chamberlain : A Biography, p. 431. Ashgate ; ISBN 978 - 0754656159. ^ Jump up to : Knickerbocker, H.R. ( 1941 ). Is Tomorrow Hitler 's ? 200 Questions On the Battle of Mankind. Reynal & Hitchcock. pp. 140, 150, 178 -- 79. ISBN 978 - 1417992775. ^ Jump up to : Reynolds, David ( 1993 ). `` Churchill in 1940 : The Worst and Finest Hour ''. In Blake, Robert B. ; Louis, William Roger. Churchill. Oxford : Clarendon Press. pp. 249, 252 -- 55. ISBN 0198206267. Jump up ^ Ingersoll, Ralph ( 1940 ). Report on England, November 1940. New York : Simon and Schuster. p. 127. Jump up ^ Schneer, Jonathan ( 16 March 2015 ). Ministers at War. Oneworld Publications. pp. 28 -- 31. ISBN 978 - 1780746142. Jump up ^ Jenkins, pp. 616 -- 46 Jump up ^ Jenkins, p. 621 Jump up ^ Allen, Hubert Raymond. Who Won the Battle of Britain ?, London : Arthur Barker ( 1974 ) ; ISBN 0213164892. Jump up ^ `` We Shall Fight on the Beaches ''. Churchill Centre. 4 June 1940. Archived from the original on 5 June 2009. Retrieved 20 December 2007. Jump up ^ `` Their Finest Hour, 18 June 1940 ''. Churchill Centre. 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Jump up ^ Storr, Anthony. `` The Man '', in A.J.P. Taylor, et al., Churchill : Four Faces and the Man ( Penguin, 1973 ) Jump up ^ Ramsden, John. Man of the Century : Winston Churchill and his Legend since 1945, Harper Collins ( 2003 ), p. 531 Jump up ^ Lovell, Richard. Churchill 's Doctor : A Biography of Lord Moran ( Royal Society of Medicine Services, 1992 ) Jump up ^ Attenborough, W. Churchill and the ' Black Dog ' of Depression ( Palgrave, 2014 ), pp. 187 -- 97 Jump up ^ Moran, Lord. Struggle for Survival, pp. 307, 309 -- 10, 785 -- 88 Jump up ^ Wheeler - Bennett, Sir John ( ed. ), Action This Day ( Macmillan, 1968 ) ; Colville, J. The Fringes of Power ( Hodder and Stoughton, 1985 ) ; Ismay, Lord Memoirs ( Heinemann, 1960 ) ; Harriman, A. and E. Abel, Special Envoy to Churchill and Stalin 1941 -- 1946 ( Hutchinson, 1976 ). Jump up ^ Attenborough, W. Churchill and the ' Black Dog ' of Depression ( Palgrave, 2014 ), pp. 153 -- 58 Jump up ^ Soames, Mary ( ed. ), Speaking For Themselves : the Personal Letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill ( Black Swan, 1999 ), p. 53 Jump up ^ Attenborough, W. Churchill and the ' Black Dog ' of Depression ( Palgrave, 2014 ), pp. 72 -- 81 Jump up ^ Shorter, E. How Everyone Became Depressed ( OUP, New York 2013 ), pp. 118 -- 24. Jump up ^ Moran, Lord. Struggle for Survival ( Constable, 1966 ), pp. 99 -- 100 Jump up ^ Wheeler - Bennett, J. ( ed. ) Action This Day ( Macmillan, 1968 ), pp. 70, 146. Jump up ^ Churchill, W.S. Painting as a Pastime ( Odhams, 1948 ), pp. 7 -- 13. Jump up ^ Stafford - Clark, David Psychiatry Today ( Penguin, 1952 ), pp. 94 -- 99. Jump up ^ Churchill, W.S. Hinge of Fate ( Cassell, 1951 ), p. 344 Jump up ^ Moran, pp. 37 -- 38 Jump up ^ Danchev, A. & D. Todman ( eds. ), Lord Alanbrooke : War Diaries 1939 -- 1945 ( Phoenix Press, 2002 ), p. 269. 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Chapter I, p. 1 citing Churchill, Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, Vol. 406, col. 1484 ^ Jump up to : German statistics ( Statistical and graphical data illustrating German population movements in the aftermath of the Second World War published in 1966 by the West German Ministry of Refugees and Displaced Persons ) p. 5 Jump up ^ Jenkins, pp. 759 -- 63 ^ Jump up to : Churchill, Winston ( 1989 ). The Second World War. London : Penguin. p. 852. ISBN 0140128360. ^ Jump up to : Resis, Albert ( April 1978 ). `` The Churchill - Stalin Secret `` Percentages '' Agreement on the Balkans, Moscow, October 1944 ``. The American Historical Review. 83 ( 2 ) : 368. doi : 10.2307 / 1862322. JSTOR 1862322. Jump up ^ A Footnote to Yalta Archived 16 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine. by Jeremy Murray - Brown, Documentary at Boston University Jump up ^ Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr I. The Gulag Archipelago, vol. 1. Translated by Thomas P. Whitney. New York : Harper and Row, 1974, p. 85 Jump up ^ Hornberger, Jacob ( 1995 ). `` Repatriation -- The Dark Side of World War II ''. The Future of Freedom Foundation. Archived from the original on 17 January 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2014. Jump up ^ See Dyson and Maharatna ( 1991 ) for a review of the data and the various estimates made. ^ Jump up to : Gordon, Leonard A. ( 1 January 1983 ). `` Review of Prosperity and Misery in Modern Bengal : The Famine of 1943 -- 1944 ''. The American Historical Review. 88 ( 4 ) : 1051. doi : 10.2307 / 1874145. JSTOR 1874145. Jump up ^ Mukerjee, Madhusree. `` History News Network Because the Past is the Present, and the Future too ''. Hnn.us. Retrieved 29 July 2011. Jump up ^ `` Did Churchill cause the Bengal Famine of 1943, as has been claimed ? ''. Churchill Central. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Jump up ^ Tharoor, Shashi ( March 2017 ). Inglorious Empire : What the British Did to India. Hurst. Jump up ^ Jones, Adam ( 2016 - 12 - 16 ). `` Chapter 2 State and Empire ; War and Revolution ''. Genocide : A Comprehensive Introduction. Routledge. ISBN 978 - 1317533856. Jump up ^ `` The Bengali Famine ''. Winstonchurchill.org. Archived from the original on 29 June 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2009. Jump up ^ Wavell, Archibald Percival ( 1973 ). Moon, Penderel, ed. Wavell : The Viceroy 's journal. Oxford University Press. p. 78. Winston sent me a peevish telegram to ask why Gandhi had n't died yet ! He has never answered my telegram about food. Jump up ^ Pankaj Mishra `` Exit Wounds '', The New Yorker, 13 August 2007 Jump up ^ Taylor, Frederick. Dresden : Tuesday, 13 February 1945, New York : Harper Collins ISBN 0060006765 / London : Bloomsbury ISBN 0747570787, pp. 262 -- 64 Jump up ^ Quoted after the devastation of Dresden by aerial bombing, and the resulting fire storm ( February 1945 ) in Where the Right Went Wrong ( 2004 ) by Buchanan, Patrick J., p. 119 ^ Jump up to : Longmate, Norman ( 1983 ). The Bombers, Hutchins & Co. p. 346. Harris quote as source : Public Records Office ATH / DO / 4B quoted by Lord Zuckerman From Apes to Warlords p. 352 ^ Jump up to : * Taylor, Frederick ( 2004 ). Dresden : Tuesday, 13 February 1945, London : Bloomsbury ; ISBN 0747570787. pp. 432 -- 33 Jump up ^ Harding, Luke ( 21 October 2003 ). `` German historian provokes row over war photos ''. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2 January 2013. Jump up ^ Grayling, A.C. ( 2006 ). Among the Dead Cities. New York : Walker Publishing Company Inc. pp. 237 -- 38. ISBN 0802714714. 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CS1 maint : BOT : original - url status unknown ( link ) The Daily Telegraph, Issue 1124 ( 1 October 1998 ) ^ Jump up to : Masson, Philippe ( 1966 ) Purnell 's History of the Second World War : No. 119. `` France 's Retreat from Empire '' ^ Jump up to : Time, 25 June 1945 ^ Jump up to : Fenby, Jonathan. The General : Charles de Gaulle and The France He Saved ( 2010 ), pp. 42 -- 47 Jump up ^ Gilbert, pp. 22 -- 23, 27 Jump up ^ Gilbert, pp. 57, 107 -- 09 Jump up ^ Picknett, et al., p. 190 Jump up ^ Jenkins, pp. 789 -- 94 Jump up ^ Gilbert, p. 113 Jump up ^ Gilbert, p. 110 ; Gilbert points out that up to this point he had in fact served for approximately 28.5 years as a Cabinet Minister. Jump up ^ `` WWII Behind Closed Doors : Stalin, the Nazis and the West -- Biographies : Anthony Eden ''. PBS. Retrieved 9 August 2011. Jump up ^ Churchill On Vacation, 1946 / 01 / 21 ( 1946 ). Universal Newsreel. 1946. Retrieved 22 February 2012. Jump up ^ `` Interview : Clark Clifford ''. Archived from the original on 25 October 2007. Retrieved 2 October 2008. CS1 maint : BOT : original - url status unknown ( link ) Retrieved 23 March 2009 Jump up ^ Churchill, Winston. `` Sinews of Peace ( Iron Curtain ) ''. Churchill Centre. Archived from the original on 5 June 2009. Retrieved 26 February 2007. Jump up ^ Maier, Thomas ( 2014 ). When Lions Roar : The Churchills and the Kennedys. Crown. pp. 412 -- 13. ISBN 0307956792. Jump up ^ Kevin Ruane, Churchill and the Bomb in War and Cold War ( 2016 ) p. 156 Jump up ^ Rees, Laurence ( 2008 ). `` The Iron Curtain ''. World War Two Behind Closed Doors : Stalin, the Nazis, and the West ( First ed. ). BBC Books. p. 391. ISBN 9780563493358. Jump up ^ `` Winston Churchill spoke of his hopes for a united Ireland ''. The Irish Times. 17 November 2014. Jump up ^ James 1970, p. 220 Jump up ^ Charmley 1995, pp. 107 -- 830 Jump up ^ Charmley 1995, pp. 65 -- 66 Jump up ^ Gilbert, pp. 265 -- 66 ^ Jump up to : Charmley 1995, pp. 246 -- 49 Jump up ^ Gilbert, p. 321 Jump up ^ Gilbert, pp. 535 -- 36 Jump up ^ Johnson 2014, pp. 306 -- 10 Jump up ^ Jenkins, pp. 810, 819 -- 14 Jump up ^ `` Remembrance Day 2003 ''. Churchill Society London. Retrieved 25 April 2007. Jump up ^ Charmley 1995, p. 249 Jump up ^ Charmley 1995, pp. 249, 298 Jump up ^ Gilbert, Martin. Winston S. Churchill : Never Despair : 1945 -- 1965. 1988 : p. 1197 Jump up ^ Johnson 2014, p. 304 Jump up ^ Gilbert, p. 1337 Jump up ^ Gilbert, p. 711 Jump up ^ Poverty, inequality and health in Britain, 1800 -- 2000 : a reader edited by George Davey Smith, Daniel Dorling, & Mary Shaw, p. lxxix Jump up ^ Pugh, Martin ( 24 March 2010 ). Speak for Britain ! : A New History of the Labour Party. Vintage. ISBN 978 - 1407051550. Retrieved 7 May 2012. Jump up ^ The End of Consensus : Britain 1945 -- 90. Pearson Education. Heinemann. 27 February 2009. ISBN 978 - 0435312374. Retrieved 7 May 2012. Jump up ^ Griffin, John P. ( 15 October 2009 ). The Textbook of Pharmaceutical Medicine. Wiley. ISBN 978 - 1444317565. Retrieved 7 May 2012. Jump up ^ Fisher 1982, p. 139. Jump up ^ `` The Housing Total Was 318,779 ''. Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail. 5 February 1954. Retrieved 8 March 2016 -- via British Newspaper Archive. ( Subscription required ( help ) ). ^ Jump up to : Jenkins, pp. 843 -- 61 Jump up ^ Stubbs, Richard ( 2001 ). Hearts and Minds in Guerrilla Warfare : The Malayan Emergency 1948 -- 1960. New York : Eastern University. ISBN 981210352X. Jump up ^ Ferguson, Niall ( 2000 ). Empire : How Britain Made the Modern World. London : Penguin Books Ltd. ISBN 978 - 0141007540. Jump up ^ Seldon 1981, pp. 395 -- 96 Jump up ^ Jenkins, p. 847 Jump up ^ Charmley 1995, p. 255 Jump up ^ In July 1952 the pro-British King Farouk was ousted by a junta of army officers led by General Naguib, who was soon himself ousted by Colonel Nasser. Egypt had been a British client state, under varying degrees of control and military occupation, since 1883. In 1953 Britain, keen to restore friendly relations, agreed to terminate her rule in the Sudan by 1956 in return for Egypt 's abandoning of her own claim over the region. In October 1954, Britain and Egypt would conclude an agreement on the phased evacuation of British troops from the Suez base, to the dismay -- privately shared by Churchill -- of the `` Suez Group '' of Conservative backbenchers. ( Charmley 1995, pp. 261, 277, 285 ) Jump up ^ Gilbert, pp. 805 -- 06 ^ Jump up to : Charmley 1995, pp. 263 -- 65 Jump up ^ Blake, Robert ; Louis, Wm Roger ( 1993 ). Churchill. W.W. Norton & Company. p. 405. ISBN 978 - 0393034097. Jump up ^ Gilbert, Martin. Winston S. Churchill : Never Despair : 1945 -- 1965. 1988 : pp. 814 -- 15, 817 Jump up ^ Gilbert, pp. 827 -- 32 Jump up ^ Judd, Dennis ( 2012 ). George VI ( Paperback ed. ). I.B. Tauris. p. 260. ISBN 978 - 1780760711. Judd writes : `` George VI felt it was time for Churchill to make way for Anthony Eden... Since none of Churchill 's cabinet colleagues stood a chance of persuading him to stand down for Eden, only the King had the necessary prestige to undertake the delicate task of suggesting that the time had arrived for Churchill 's retirement. He decided that he would broach the subject in the new year. '' Jump up ^ Gilbert, pp. 846 -- 57 Jump up ^ Charmley 1995, p. 266 ^ Jump up to : Jenkins, pp. 868 -- 71 Jump up ^ Gilbert, p. 863 Jump up ^ Gilbert, pp. 936 -- 37 Jump up ^ Gilbert, pp. 1009 -- 17 Jump up ^ Charmley 1995, pp. 289 -- 91 Jump up ^ Gilbert, pp. 298 -- 300 Jump up ^ Churchill longevity, bbc.co.uk ; accessed 30 December 2016 Jump up ^ Rasor, p. 205 Jump up ^ Lovell, Mary S. ( 7 April 2011 ). The Churchills. Little, Brown Book Group. pp. 486 --. ISBN 978 - 0748117116. Jump up ^ Gilbert, Martin. Winston S. Churchill : Never Despair : 1945 -- 1965. 1988 : pp. 1224 -- 25 Jump up ^ A.M. Browne, Long Sunset ( 1995 ), pp. 302 -- 03 Jump up ^ W. Attenborough, Churchill and the Black Dog of Depression ( 2014 ), pp. 175 -- 86. Jump up ^ `` Winston Churchill '' ( PDF ). Pub. L. 86 - 6. U.S. Senate. 9 April 1963. Retrieved 17 March 2011. ^ Jump up to : Jenkins, p. 911 Jump up ^ Dockter, Warren ( 30 January 2015 ). `` Winston Churchill 's funeral was 12 years in the planning ''. The Telegraph. Retrieved 27 May 2016. Jump up ^ Ramsden, John ( 2002 ). Man of the Century : Winston Churchill and His Legend Since 1945. Columbia University Press. pp. 16 -- 17, 113. ISBN 978 - 0231131063. Jump up ^ Picknett, et al., p. 252 Jump up ^ Remembering Winston Churchill : The State Funeral of Sir Winston Churchill, part 2, BBC Archive. Retrieved 5 March 2011 Jump up ^ `` Winston Churchill ( 1874 -- 1965 ) ''. PortCities London. Retrieved 12 January 2008. Jump up ^ Winston Churchill 's funeral van project Archived 23 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Swanage Railway News 2006 Jump up ^ Winston Churchill 's funeral van denied Lottery funding Archived 22 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Swanage Railway News 2008 Jump up ^ `` History -- Sir Winston Churchill ''. The Dean and Chapter of Westminster. Retrieved 11 January 2014. Jump up ^ Jenkins, p. 279 ^ Jump up to : Rees - Mogg, William ( 22 May 2007 ). `` Portrait of the artist with his black dog ''. The Times. London. Retrieved 6 March 2008. Jump up ^ `` Paul Maze Biography ''. Albanyfineart.co.uk. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 16 June 2010. Jump up ^ Lady Soames. `` Winston Churchill the Painter ''. Archived from the original on 5 January 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2014. Jump up ^ Johnson, Paul ( 2009 ). Churchill. Viking. ISBN 978 - 1101149294. Jump up ^ Churchill, Winston S. The Hinge of Fate, New York : Houghton Mifflin Company ( 1950 ), p. 622 Jump up ^ `` Churchill and Reves ''. Winstonchurchill.org. Archived from the original on 20 February 2011. Retrieved 7 November 2010. Jump up ^ `` 25th Anniversary of Reves Collection at the Dallas Museum of Art ''. Dallas Art News. Retrieved 7 November 2010. Jump up ^ Mohr, Philip. `` Reves Collection Inventory '' ( PDF ). The Emery and Wendy Reves Memorial Collection, Winston Churchill Memorial and Library in the United States, Westminster College. Retrieved 28 October 2011. Jump up ^ `` FAQ about Parliament ''. Parliament of the United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 8 February 2010. Retrieved 8 January 2014. Jump up ^ Plant Here The Standard by Dennis Griffiths ; p. 270 Macmillan Press Ltd, London, 1996 ISBN 978 - 1349124633. Jump up ^ `` Official Nobel Page ''. Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 9 August 2009. Jump up ^ Jenkins, pp. 819 -- 23, 525 -- 26 Jump up ^ Canby, Henry Seidel. `` The 100 Outstanding Books of 1924 -- 1944 ''. Life, 14 August 1944. Chosen in collaboration with the magazine 's editors. Jump up ^ Wainwright, Martin ( 19 August 2010 ). `` Winston Churchill 's butterfly house brought back to life ''. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 14 July 2013. Jump up ^ Radio Times, 12 March 2011, pp. 130 -- 31 Jump up ^ Livio, Mario ( 15 February 2017 ). `` Winston Churchill 's essay on alien life found ''. Nature. 542 ( 7641 ) : 289 -- 91. Bibcode : 2017Natur. 542... 289L. doi : 10.1038 / 542289a. Retrieved 18 February 2017. Jump up ^ de Freytas - Tamura, Kimiko ( 15 February 2017 ). `` Winston Churchill Wrote of Alien Life in a Lost Essay ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 18 February 2017. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, p. 6. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, pp. 32 -- 33. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. xx. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 88. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, p. 37 ; Jenkins 2001, p. 132. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. xix. ^ Jump up to : Rhodes James 1970, p. 35. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, p. 36. ^ Jump up to : Rhodes James 1970, p. 32. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, p. 34. ^ Jump up to : Jenkins 2001, p. 152. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 131. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 132. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 162. ^ Jump up to : Jenkins 2001, p. 22. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 79. ^ Jump up to : Rhodes James 1970, p. 20. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 184. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 108. ^ Jump up to : Rhodes James 1970, p. 31. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 104. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 151. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, pp. 31 -- 32. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, p. 22. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, p. 221 ; Gilbert 1991, p. 158 ; Jenkins 2001, p. 83. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 3. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, pp. 14, 19 ; Jenkins 2001, p. 153. ^ Jump up to : Rhodes James 1970, p. 14. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 24. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 20. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 90. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 60. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 83. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, pp. 52 -- 53. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 121. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, p. 18. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, p. 20 ; Gilbert 1991, p. 168. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 93. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 51. ^ Jump up to : Haffner 2003, p. 19. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 213. Jump up ^ `` Winston Churchill, Stutterer ''. Jump up ^ Mather, John ( 5 September 2009 ). `` Churchill 's speech impediment was stuttering ''. The Churchill Centre and Museum at the Churchill War Rooms, London. Archived from the original on 4 August 2011. Retrieved 27 December 2012. `` Reports of Churchill by his family and cousins do not mention stuttering. Later on Churchill dictated to many ' secretaries ' and none mention any hesitation ( possible stuttering ) in his speech but rather a charming lisp. All secretaries that took dictation, but one, agree that any hesitation was a ' searching ' for the right words. '' Jump up ^ `` Churchill 's teeth sell for almost $24,000 ''. Jump up ^ Oliver, Robert Tarbell ( October 1987 ). Public speaking in the reshaping of Great Britain. Associated University Press. ISBN 978 - 0874133158. Retrieved 8 January 2014. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, p. 23. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, p. 24. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 134. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 116. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, p. 29. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. xv. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, p. 53. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 180. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, pp. 4, 19. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 225. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, pp. 92 -- 93. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 208. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 136. Jump up ^ `` Churchill 's Commissions and Military Attachments, The Churchill Centre ''. Winstonchurchill.org. Archived from the original on 3 June 2010. Retrieved 12 April 2010. ^ Jump up to : `` Sir Winston Churchill : Biography : Chronological Summary, Churchill College ''. University of Cambridge. 6 March 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2009. Jump up ^ `` Details for United Studholme Alliance Lodge No. 1591 '', Lane 's Masonic Records, retrieved 11 June 2018 Jump up ^ Beresiner, Yasha ( October 2002 ). `` Brother Winston : Churchill as a Freemason ''. Masonic Quarterly Magazine. London : Grand Lodge Publications Limited for the United Grand Lodge of England ( 3 ). Retrieved 29 July 2012. Jump up ^ Soames, Mary : Speaking for Themselves : The Personal Letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill. p. 1 Jump up ^ Soames, p. 6 Jump up ^ Soames, Mary ( 2003 ). Clementine Churchill : The Biography of a Marriage. New York : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 39 ff. ISBN 0618267328. Retrieved 20 June 2018. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 198. Jump up ^ Soames, pp. 14 -- 15 Jump up ^ Soames, p. 17 Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 205. Jump up ^ Soames, pp. 18, 22, 25 Jump up ^ Soames, pp. 40, 44 Jump up ^ Soames, p. 105 Jump up ^ Soames, p. 217 Jump up ^ Soames, pp. 239 -- 41 Jump up ^ Soames, p. 262 Jump up ^ Crowhurst, Richard ( 2006 ). `` Chartwell : Churchill 's House of Refuge ''. Moira Allen. Retrieved 9 January 2008. Jump up ^ Jenkins 2001, p. 209. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 207. Jump up ^ Doward, Jamie ( 2018 - 02 - 25 ). `` Revealed : secret affair with a socialite that nearly wrecked Churchill 's career ''. the Guardian. Retrieved 2018 - 02 - 25. Jump up ^ Manchester, William ( 1983 ). The Last Lion : Winston Churchill : Visions of Glory, 1874 -- 1932, Volume 1. New York : Little, Brown. ISBN 0316244856. Retrieved 18 June 2018. Jump up ^ Haffner 2003, p. 32. Jump up ^ Reagles, David ; Larsen, Timothy ( November 2013 ). `` Winston Churchill and Almighty God ''. Historically Speaking. 14 ( 5 ) : 8 -- 10. Retrieved 18 June 2018. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 92. Jump up ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 102. Jump up ^ 1952 -, Rose, Jonathan,. The Literary Churchill : Author, Reader, Actor. New Haven. p. 30. ISBN 0300204078. OCLC 861497403. Jump up ^ Sawer, Patrick ( 2014 - 12 - 28 ). `` Sir Winston Churchill ' s family feared he might convert to Islam ''. ISSN 0307 - 1235. Retrieved 2018 - 02 - 26. Jump up ^ Arnn, Larry P. ( 2015 - 10 - 13 ). Churchill 's Trial : Winston Churchill and the Salvation of Free Government. Nashville : Thomas Nelson. p. 24. ISBN 1595555315. Retrieved 18 June 2018. Jump up ^ Dockter, Warren ( 2015 ). Churchill and the Islamic World : Orientalism, Empire and Diplomacy in the Middle East. London : I.B. Tauris. p. 231. ISBN 0857737147. Retrieved 18 June 2018. Jump up ^ Dockter, Warren ( 27 Jan 2015 ). `` Pigs, poodles, and African lions -- meet Churchill the animal - lover ''. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 March 2018. Jump up ^ `` Cats in the 20th Century ( Winston Churchill 's Cats ) ''. The Great Cat. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2018. ^ Jump up to : Jones, R.V. ( 1966 ). `` Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill 1874 -- 1965 ''. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 12 : 34 -- 105. doi : 10.1098 / rsbm. 1966.0003. Jump up ^ `` Historical Alphabetical List since 1867 of Members of the Queen 's Privy Council for Canada ''. pco-bcp.gc.ca. Privy Council Office / Government of Canada. Retrieved 18 March 2017. Jump up ^ `` Record from The Nomination Database for the Nobel Prize in Peace, 1901 -- 1956 ''. Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 8 June 2010. Jump up ^ Russell, Douglas ( 2002 ). The Orders, Decorations and Medals of Sir Winston Churchill. Churchill Centre. Jump up ^ 88th Congress ( 1963 ) ( 9 April 1963 ). `` H.R. 4374 ( 88th ) ''. Legislation. GovTrack.us. Retrieved 27 January 2014. An Act to proclaim Sir Winston Churchill an honorary citizen of the United States of America. Jump up ^ Kennedy, Harold ( April 2001 ). `` USS Churchill Shows Off High - Tech Gear ''. National Defense Magazine. Archived from the original on 20 April 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2017. Jump up ^ `` Poll of the 100 Greatest Britons ''. BBC. Archived from the original on 14 May 2006. Retrieved 22 December 2007. Jump up ^ `` The Most Influential People of the 20th Century ''. Time. Archived from the original on 15 December 2007. Retrieved 22 December 2007. Jump up ^ Alkon, Paul Kent ( 16 June 2017 ). `` Winston Churchill 's Imagination ''. Associated University Presse -- via Google Books. Jump up ^ Finest Hour no. 128 Archived 16 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine. ; Autumn 2005 p. 14 Jump up ^ `` 4th Queen 's Own Hussars ''. regiments.org. Archived from the original on 3 March 2006. Retrieved 15 January 2017. CS1 maint : BOT : original - url status unknown ( link ) Jump up ^ `` Queen 's Royal Irish Hussars ''. Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 19 December 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2017. CS1 maint : BOT : original - url status unknown ( link ) Jump up ^ `` Queen 's Own Oxfordshire Hussars ''. Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 19 December 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2017. CS1 maint : BOT : original - url status unknown ( link ) Jump up ^ Fedden, Robin ( 15 May 2014 ). Churchill at Chartwell : Museums and Libraries Series. Elsevier. ISBN 978 - 1483161365. Jump up ^ 89 HAA Rgt War Diary, 1942, The National Archives ( TNA ), Kew, file WO 169 / 4808 Jump up ^ Douglas S. Russell `` Winston Churchill Soldier : The military life of a gentleman at war '' ^ Jump up to : Rhodes James 1970, p. ix. Jump up ^ Matt Born, `` Ten contenders for the title Greatest Briton '' The Telegraph 10 October 2002. Retrieved 10 July 2017 Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, pp. 13 -- 14. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, p. 41. ^ Jump up to : Jenkins 2001, p. 71. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, p. 33. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, pp. 33 -- 34. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, p. x ; Jenkins 2001, p. xv. Jump up ^ Rhodes James 1970, p. x. ^ Jump up to : Tom, Heyden ( 26 January 2015 ). `` The 10 greatest controversies of Winston Churchill 's career ''. BBC Magazine. Jump up ^ `` The 10 greatest controversies of Winston Churchill 's career ''. 26 January 2015. Jump up ^ Clarence B. Davis and Robert J. Gowen, `` The British at Weihaiwei : A Case Study in the Irrationality of Empire '', The Historian, Vol. 63, No. 1 ( Fall 2000 ), p. 98. Jump up ^ Nikhil, Varma ( 23 December 2016 ). `` A new look at the Raj ''. The Hindu. Sources Best, Geoffrey ( 2001 ). Churchill : A Study in Greatness. London and New York : Hambledon and Continuum. ISBN 978 - 1852852535. Gilbert, Martin ( 1991 ). Churchill : A Life. London : Heinemann. ISBN 0434291838. Haffner, Sebastian ( 2003 ). Churchill. John Brownjohn ( translator ). London : Haus. ISBN 978 - 1904341079. Rhodes James, Robert ( 1970 ). Churchill : A Study in Failure 1900 -- 1939. London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 978 - 0297820154. Jenkins, Roy ( 2001 ). Churchill. London : Macmillan. ISBN 0333782909. Robbins, Keith ( 2014 ) ( 1992 ). Churchill : Profiles in Power. London and New York : Routledge. ISBN 978 - 1317874522. Further reading Primary sources Churchill, Winston. The World Crisis. Six vols. ( 1923 -- 31 ) ; one - vol. ed. ( 2005 ). On the First World War. Churchill, Winston. The Second World War. Six vols. ( 1948 -- 53 ) Coombs, David, ed., with Minnie Churchill. Sir Winston Churchill : His Life through His Paintings. Fwd. by Mary Soames. Pegasus, 2003. ISBN 0762427310. Other editions entitled Sir Winston Churchill 's Life and His Paintings and Sir Winston Churchill : His Life and His Paintings. Includes illustrations of approx. 500 -- 534 paintings by Churchill. Edwards, Ron. Eastcote : From Village to Suburb ( 1987 ). Uxbridge : London Borough of Hillingdon. ISBN 0907869092. Gilbert, Martin. In Search of Churchill : A Historian 's Journey ( 1994 ). Memoir about editing the following multi-volume work. Gilbert, Martin, ed. Winston S. Churchill. An eight - volume biography begun by Randolph Churchill, supported by 15 companion vols. of official and unofficial documents relating to Churchill. 1966 -- I. Youth, 1874 -- 1900 ( 2 vols., 1966 ) ; II. Young Statesman, 1901 -- 1914 ( 3 vols., 1967 ) ; III. The Challenge of War, 1914 -- 1916 ( 3 vols., 1973 ). ISBN 0395169747, 978 - 0395169742 ; IV. The Stricken World, 1916 -- 1922 ( 2 vols., 1975 ) ; V. The Prophet of Truth, 1923 -- 1939 ( 3 vols., 1977 ) ; VI. Finest Hour, 1939 -- 1941 : The Churchill War Papers ( 2 vols., 1983 ) ; VII. Road to Victory, 1941 -- 1945 ( 4 vols., 1986 ) ; VIII. Never Despair, 1945 -- 1965 ( 3 vols., 1988 ). James, Robert Rhodes, ed. Winston S. Churchill : His Complete Speeches, 1897 -- 1963. Eight vols. London : Chelsea, 1974. Knowles, Elizabeth. The Oxford Dictionary of Twentieth Century Quotations. Oxford, Eng. : Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0198601034, 978 - 0198601036, 0198662505, 978 - 0198662501. Langworth, Richard, ed. Churchill in his own Words, Ebury Press, 2008. ISBN 978 - 0091933364. Loewenheim, Francis L. and Harold D. Langley, eds ( 1975 ). Roosevelt and Churchill : Their Secret Wartime Correspondence. Secondary sources Beschloss, Michael R. ( 2002 ). The Conquerors : Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler 's Germany, 1941 -- 1945. New York : Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978 - 0684810270. OCLC 50315054. Blake, Robert ( 1997 ). Winston Churchill. Pocket Biographies. Stroud : Sutton Publishing. ISBN 978 - 0750915076. OCLC 59586004. Blake, Robert ; Louis, William Roger, eds. ( 1992 ). Churchill : A Major New Reassessment of His Life in Peace and War. Oxford : Oxford University Press. ISBN 978 - 0192823175. OCLC 30029512. Browne, Anthony Montague ( 1995 ). Long sunset : memoirs of Winston Churchill 's last private secretary. London : Cassell. ISBN 978 - 0304344789. OCLC 32547047. Charmley, John ( 1993 ). Churchill, The End of Glory : A Political Biography. London : Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978 - 0151178810. OCLC 440131865. Charmley, John ( 1996 ). Churchill 's Grand Alliance : The Anglo - American Special Relationship 1940 -- 57. London : Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978 - 0340597606. OCLC 247165348. Davis, Richard Harding. Real Soldiers of Fortune ( 1906 ). Early biography. Project Gutenberg etext, wikisource here `` Real Soldiers of Fortune / Chapter 3 ''. En.wikisource.org. 20 October 2007. Retrieved 9 August 2009. D'Este, Carlo ( 2008 ). Warlord : a life of Winston Churchill at war, 1874 -- 1945 ( 1st ed. ). New York : Harper. ISBN 978 - 0060575731. Retrieved 26 November 2008. Fisher, Nigel ( 1982 ). Harold Macmillan. London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 978 - 0297779148. Hastings, Max. Finest Years : Churchill as Warlord, 1940 -- 45. London : HarperPress ( 2009 ). ISBN 978 - 0007263677. Hennessy, Peter The Prime Minister : The Office and Its Holders since 1945 ( 2001 ). Hitchens, Christopher. `` The Medals of His Defeats '', The Atlantic Monthly ( April 2002 ) Johnson, Boris, The Churchill Factor : How One Man Made History. Hodder & Stoughton ( 2013 ). ISBN 978 - 1444783025. Jordan, Anthony J. Churchill : A Founder of Modern Ireland. Westport Books ( 1995 ). ISBN 978 - 0952444701. Julius, Anthony, The Trials of the Diaspora, A History of Anti-Semitism in England. Oxford University Press, 2010. ISBN 978 - 0199297054. Kersaudy, François. Churchill and De Gaulle ( 1981 ). ISBN 0002163284. Krockow, Christian. Churchill : Man of the Century. ( 1900 -- 1999 ). ISBN 1902809432. Lukacs, John. Churchill : Visionary, Statesman, Historian. New Haven : Yale University Press, 2002. Lunde, Henrik O. ( 2009 ). Hitler 's pre-emptive war : The Battle for Norway, 1940. Newbury : Casemate Publishers. ISBN 978 - 1932033922. Manchester, William. The Last Lion : Winston Spencer Churchill : Alone, 1932 -- 1940 ( 1988 ). ISBN 0316545120. Manchester, William. The Last Lion : Winston Spencer Churchill : Defender of the Realm, 1940 -- 1965 ( 2010 ). Manchester, William. The Last Lion : Winston Spencer Churchill : Visions of Glory, 1874 -- 1932 ( 1983 ). ISBN 0316545031. Massie, Robert. Dreadnought : Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War. ISBN 1844135284. ( chapters 40 -- 41 concern Churchill at the Admiralty. ) Pelling, Henry. Winston Churchill ( 1974 ). ISBN 1840222182. ( Comprehensive biography ) Prior, Robin. Churchill 's `` World Crisis '' as History Croom Helm ( 1983 ). ISBN 0709920113. Rasor, Eugene L. Winston S. Churchill, 1874 -- 1965 : A Comprehensive Historiography and Annotated Bibliography. Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 0313305463. ( Entries include several thousand books and scholarly articles ) ; online at Questia ; also online free Seldon, Anthony ( 1981 ). Churchill 's Indian Summer. London : Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978 - 0340254561. ( Study of the 1951 -- 55 Government ) Soames, Mary ( ed. ) Speaking for Themselves : The Personal Letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill ( 1998 ). Stansky, Peter, ed. Churchill : A Profile ( 1973 ). ( Perspectives on Churchill by leading scholars ) Toye, Richard. Churchill 's Empire : The World that Made Him and the World He Made. Macmillan, 2010. ISBN 978 - 0230703841. Trukhanovskiĭ, Vladimir Grigor'evich. Winston Churchill. Moscow : Progress Publishers ( 1978 ; revised edition ). Weber, Oliver, War Correspondent, Preface of The Malakand War, Belles Lettres ( 2012 ). External links This article 's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia 's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. ( August 2017 ) Find more aboutWinston Churchillat Wikipedia 's sister projects Media from Wikimedia Commons Quotations from Wikiquote Texts from Wikisource Data from Wikidata Listen to this article ( 3 parts ) ( info ) Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 This audio file was created from a revision of the article `` Winston Churchill '' dated 7 April 2006, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ( Audio help ) More spoken articles Winston Churchill on IMDb Winston Churchill at Curlie ( based on DMOZ ) Churchill 's First World War from Imperial War Museums FBI files on Winston Churchill Winston Churchill and Zionism Shapell Manuscript Foundation The Real Churchill ( critical ) and a rebuttal A Rebuttal to ' The Real Churchill ' at the Wayback Machine ( archived 12 September 2007 ) `` Archival material relating to Winston Churchill ''. 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Winston Churchill Memorial and Library at Westminster College, Missouri War Cabinet Minutes ( 1942 ), ( 1942 -- 43 ), ( 1945 -- 46 ), ( 1946 ) Locations of correspondence and papers of Churchill at The National Archives of the UK Newspaper clippings about Winston Churchill in the 20th Century Press Archives of the German National Library of Economics ( ZBW ) Parliament of the United Kingdom Preceded by Walter Runciman Member of Parliament for Oldham 1900 -- 1906 Served alongside : Alfred Emmott Succeeded by John Bright Preceded by William Houldsworth Member of Parliament for Manchester North West 1906 -- 1908 Succeeded by William Joynson - Hicks Preceded by Edmund Robertson Member of Parliament for Dundee 1908 -- 1922 Served alongside : Alexander Wilkie Succeeded by Edwin Scrymgeour Preceded by Leonard Lyle Member of Parliament for Epping 1924 -- 1945 Succeeded by Leah Manning New constituency Member of Parliament for Woodford 1945 -- 1964 Constituency abolished Preceded by Dai Grenfell Father of the House 1959 -- 1964 Succeeded by Rab Butler Political offices Preceded by The Duke of Marlborough Undersecretary of State for the Colonies 1905 -- 1908 Succeeded by Jack Seely Preceded by David Lloyd - George President of the Board of Trade 1908 -- 1910 Succeeded by Sydney Buxton Preceded by Herbert Gladstone Home Secretary 1910 -- 1911 Succeeded by Reginald McKenna Preceded by Reginald McKenna First Lord of the Admiralty 1911 -- 1915 Succeeded by Arthur Balfour Preceded by Edwin Montagu Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1915 Succeeded by Herbert Samuel Preceded by Christopher Addison Minister of Munitions 1917 -- 1919 Succeeded by The Lord Inverforth Preceded by The Viscount Weir Secretary of State for Air 1919 -- 1921 Succeeded by Freddie Guest Preceded by The Viscount Milner Secretary of State for War 1919 -- 1921 Succeeded by Laming Worthington - Evans Secretary of State for the Colonies 1921 -- 1922 Succeeded by The Duke of Devonshire Preceded by Philip Snowden Chancellor of the Exchequer 1924 -- 1929 Succeeded by Philip Snowden Preceded by The Earl Stanhope First Lord of the Admiralty 1939 -- 1940 Succeeded by A.V. Alexander Preceded by Neville Chamberlain Leader of the House of Commons 1940 -- 1942 Succeeded by Stafford Cripps Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1940 -- 1945 Succeeded by Clement Attlee Preceded by The Lord Chatfield as Minister for Coordination of Defence Minister of Defence 1940 -- 1945 Preceded by Clement Attlee Leader of the Opposition 1945 -- 1951 Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1951 -- 1955 Succeeded by Anthony Eden Preceded by Manny Shinwell Minister of Defence 1951 -- 1952 Succeeded by The Earl Alexander of Tunis Academic offices Preceded by H.H. Asquith Rector of the University of Aberdeen 1914 -- 1918 Succeeded by The Viscount Cowdray Preceded by John Gilmour Rector of the University of Edinburgh 1929 -- 1932 Succeeded by Ian Hamilton Preceded by The Viscount Haldane Chancellor of the University of Bristol 1929 -- 1965 Succeeded by The Duke of Beaufort Party political offices Preceded by Neville Chamberlain Leader of the Conservative Party 1940 -- 1955 Succeeded by Anthony Eden Honorary titles Preceded by The Marquess of Willingdon Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports 1941 -- 1965 Succeeded by Robert Menzies Preceded by The Earl Baldwin of Bewdley Oldest living Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1947 -- 1965 Succeeded by The Earl Attlee Preceded by The Viscount Ullswater Senior Privy Counsellor 1949 -- 1965 Succeeded by The Earl of Swinton Preceded by François Mauriac Laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1953 Succeeded by Ernest Hemingway Preceded by Davie Logan Oldest sitting Member of Parliament 1964 Succeeded by Manny Shinwell Winston Churchill Bibliography Life Winston Churchill as historian Winston Churchill as painter Winston Churchill in politics, 1900 -- 1939 Timeline War Rooms conferences Percentages agreement Quebec Agreement Statement on Atrocities European Advisory Commission Honours of Winston Churchill Later life of Winston Churchill funeral gravesite The Other Club Blenheim Palace Chartwell Writings The Story of the Malakand Field Force ( 1898 ) Savrola ( 1899 novel ) The River War ( 1899 ) London to Ladysmith via Pretoria ( 1900 ) Ian Hamilton 's March ( 1900 ) Lord Randolph Churchill ( 1906 ) The World Crisis ( 1923 -- 1931, five volumes ) My Early Life ( 1930 ) Marlborough : His Life and Times ( 1933 -- 1938, four volumes ) Great Contemporaries ( 1937 ) Arms and the Covenant ( 1938 ) The Second World War ( 1948 -- 1963, six volumes ) A History of the English - Speaking Peoples ( 1956 -- 1958, four volumes ) Speeches `` Blood, toil, tears, and sweat '' `` Be ye men of valour '' `` We shall fight on the beaches '' `` This was their finest hour '' `` Never was so much owed by so many to so few '' `` Iron Curtain '' Legacy and depictions Palace of Westminster statue Parliament Square statue Washington, DC, statue Epstein bust Memorial Trusts Churchill College, Cambridge Churchill Archives Centre The Churchill Centre US Churchill Museum Cultural depictions Churchillian Drift Related Norway Debate Terminological inexactitude Siege of Sidney Street Tonypandy riots May 1940 War Cabinet Crisis Sword of Stalingrad Operation Unthinkable Family Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer - Churchill ( wife ) Diana Churchill ( daughter ) Randolph Churchill ( son ) Sarah Churchill ( daughter ) Marigold Churchill ( daughter ) Mary Soames, Baroness Soames ( daughter ) Lord Randolph Churchill ( father ) Jennie Jerome, Lady Randolph Churchill ( mother ) Jack Churchill ( brother ) Descendants John Spencer - Churchill ( grandfather ) Frances Anne Spencer - Churchill ( grandmother ) Leonard Jerome ( grandfather ) Links to related articles Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom Kingdom of Great Britain Orford ( Walpole ) Wilmington Pelham Newcastle Devonshire Newcastle Bute G. Grenville Rockingham Chatham ( Pitt the Elder ) Grafton North Rockingham Shelburne Portland Pitt the Younger United Kingdom Pitt the Younger Addington Pitt the Younger Ld. Grenville Portland Perceval Liverpool Canning Goderich Wellington Grey Melbourne Wellington Peel Melbourne Peel Russell Derby Aberdeen Palmerston Derby Palmerston Russell Derby Disraeli Gladstone Beaconsfield ( Disraeli ) Gladstone Salisbury Gladstone Salisbury Gladstone Rosebery Salisbury Balfour Campbell - Bannerman Asquith Lloyd George Law Baldwin MacDonald Baldwin MacDonald Baldwin Chamberlain Churchill Attlee Churchill Eden Macmillan Douglas - Home Wilson Heath Wilson Callaghan Thatcher Major Blair Brown Cameron May Book Category Commons Chancellors of the Exchequer of England Eustace of Fauconberg Maunsell Leicester Westminster Chishull W. Giffard G. Giffard Chishull de la Leye Willoughby Benstead Sandale Hotham Stanton Harvington Wodehouse Stratford Ashby Ashton Barnham Somer Somerset Browne Witham Thwaites Witham Fowler Catesby Lovell Berners Cromwell Baker Sackville Mildmay Fortescue Dunbar Caesar Greville Portland Barrett Cottington Colepeper Hyde Ashley Duncombe Ernle Delamer Hampden Montagu Smith Boyle of Great Britain Boyle Smith Harley Benson Wyndham Onslow Walpole Stanhope Aislabie Pratt Walpole Sandys Pelham Lee Bilson - Legge Lyttelton Bilson - Legge Mansfield Bilson - Legge Barrington Dashwood Grenville Dowdeswell Townshend North Cavendish Pitt Cavendish Pitt Addington Pitt Ellenborough Petty Perceval Vansittart of the United Kingdom Vansittart Robinson Canning Tenterden Herries Goulburn Althorp Denman Peel Spring Rice Baring Goulburn Wood Disraeli Gladstone Lewis Disraeli Gladstone Disraeli Hunt Lowe Gladstone Northcote Gladstone Childers Hicks Beach Harcourt R. Churchill Goschen Harcourt Hicks Beach Ritchie A. Chamberlain Asquith Lloyd George McKenna Law A. Chamberlain Horne Baldwin N. Chamberlain Snowden W. Churchill Snowden N. Chamberlain Simon Wood Anderson Dalton Cripps Gaitskell Butler Macmillan Thorneycroft Heathcoat - Amory Lloyd Maudling Callaghan Jenkins Macleod Barber Healey Howe Lawson Major Lamont Clarke Brown Darling Osborne Hammond Italic : Interim Chancellor of the Exchequer, as Lord Chief Justice Home Secretaries of the United Kingdom Shelburne Townshend North Temple Sydney Grenville Dundas Portland Pelham Yorke Hawkesbury Spencer Liverpool Ryder Sidmouth Peel Sturges Bourne Lansdowne Peel Melbourne Duncannon Wellington Goulburn Russell Normanby Graham Grey Walpole Palmerston Grey Walpole Sotheron - Estcourt Lewis Grey Walpole Hardy Bruce Lowe Cross Harcourt Cross Childers Matthews Asquith Ridley Ritchie Akers - Douglas Gladstone Churchill McKenna Simon Samuel Cave Shortt Bridgeman Henderson Joynson - Hicks Clynes Samuel Gilmour Simon Hoare Anderson Morrison Somervell Chuter Ede Maxwell - Fyfe Lloyd George Butler Brooke Soskice Jenkins Callaghan Maudling Carr Jenkins Rees Whitelaw Brittan Hurd Waddington Baker K. Clarke Howard Straw Blunkett C. Clarke Reid Smith Johnson May Rudd Javid Defence Secretaries of the United Kingdom Minister for Co-ordination of Defence Sir Thomas Inksip The Lord Chatfield Ministers for Defence Winston Churchill Clement Attlee A.V. Alexander Manny Shinwell Winston Churchill The Earl Alexander of Tunis Harold Macmillan Selwyn Lloyd Sir Walter Monckton Anthony Head Duncan Sandys Harold Watkinson Peter Thorneycroft Secretaries of State for Defence Peter Thorneycroft Denis Healey The Lord Carrington Ian Gilmour Roy Mason Fred Mulley Francis Pym John Nott Michael Heseltine George Younger Tom King Malcolm Rifkind Michael Portillo George Robertson Geoff Hoon John Reid Des Browne John Hutton Bob Ainsworth Liam Fox Philip Hammond Michael Fallon Gavin Williamson First Lords of the Admiralty of England The Earl of Portland The Earl of Lindsey William Juxon, Bishop of Lincoln The Earl of Northumberland The Lord Cottington Sir Henry Capell The Earl of Nottingham The Earl of Torrington The Earl of Pembroke The Lord Cornwallis The Viscount Falkland The Earl of Orford The Earl of Bridgewater The Earl of Pembroke of Great Britain The Earl of Orford Sir John Leake The Earl of Strafford The Earl of Orford The Earl of Berkeley The Viscount Torrington Sir Charles Wager The Earl of Winchilsea The Duke of Bedford The Earl of Sandwich The Lord Anson The Earl Temple The Earl of Winchilsea The Lord Anson The Earl of Halifax Hon. George Grenville The Earl of Sandwich The Earl of Egmont Sir Charles Saunders Sir Edward Hawke The Earl of Sandwich The Viscount Keppel The Viscount Howe The Viscount Keppel The Viscount Howe The Earl of Chatham The Earl Spencer of the United Kingdom The Earl of St Vincent The Viscount Melville The Lord Barham Viscount Howick Thomas Grenville The Lord Mulgrave Charles Philip Yorke The Viscount Melville HRH The Duke of Clarence The Viscount Melville Sir James Graham, Bt The Lord Auckland The Earl de Grey The Lord Auckland The Earl of Minto The Earl of Haddington The Earl of Ellenborough The Earl of Auckland Sir Francis Baring, Bt The Duke of Northumberland Sir James Graham, Bt Sir Charles Wood, Bt Sir John Pakington, Bt The Duke of Somerset Sir John Pakington, Bt Hon. Henry Lowry - Corry Hugh Childers George Goschen George Ward Hunt William Henry Smith Smith The Earl of Northbrook Lord George Hamilton The Marquess of Ripon Lord George Hamilton The Earl Spencer George Goschen The Earl of Selborne The Earl Cawdor The Lord Tweedmouth Reginald McKenna Winston Churchill Arthur Balfour Sir Edward Carson Sir Eric Geddes Walter Long The Viscount Lee of Fareham Wood Anderson Leo Amery The Viscount Chelmsford The Viscount Bridgeman A.V. Alexander Sir Austen Chamberlain The Viscount Monsell Sir Samuel Hoare, Bt Duff Cooper The Earl Stanhope Winston Churchill A.V. Alexander Brendan Bracken A.V. Alexander The Viscount Hall Lord Pakenham Viscount Cilcennin The Viscount Hailsham The Earl of Selkirk The Lord Carrington The Earl Jellicoe Presidents of the Board of Trade Shaftesbury Bridgewater Stamford Weymouth Stamford Winchilsea Guilford Berkeley Suffolk Holderness Fitzwalter Monson Halifax Sandys Townshend Shelburne Hillsborough Dartmouth Hillsborough Nugent Hillsborough Dartmouth Sackville Carlisle Grantham Sydney Liverpool Montrose Auckland Bathurst Clancarty Robinson Huskisson Grant Vesey - Fitzgerald Herries Auckland Thomson Baring Thomson Labouchere Ripon Gladstone Dalhousie Clarendon Labouchere Henley Cardwell Stanley Henley Dnoughmore Gibson Northcote Richmond Bright Parkinson - Fortescue Adderley Sandon Chamberlain Richmond Stanhope Mundella Stanley Hicks Beach Mundella Bryce Ritchie Balfour Salisbury Lloyd George Churchill Buxton Burns Runciman Stanley Geddes Horne Baldwin Cunliffe - Lister Graham Cunliffe - Lister Runciman Stanley Duncan Lyttelton Duncan Llewellin Dalton Lyttelton Cripps Wilson Shawcross Thorneycroft Eccles Maulding Erroll Heath Jay Crosland Mason Noble Davies Walker Benn Varley Joseph Jenkin Shore Dell Smith Nott Biffen Cockfield Parkinson Tebbit Brittan Channon Young Ridley Lilley Heseltine Lang Beckett Mandelson Byers Hewitt Johnson Darling Hutton Mandelson Cable Javid Clark Fox Leaders of the House of Commons Walpole Sandys Pelham Robinson H. Fox Pitt the Elder Vacant ( caretaker ministry ) Pitt the Elder Grenville H. Fox Grenville Conway North C. Fox Townshend ( C. Fox / North ) Pitt the Younger Addington Pitt the Younger C. Fox Howick Perceval Castlereagh Canning Huskisson Peel Althorp Peel Russell Disraeli Russell Palmerston Disraeli Palmerston Gladstone Disraeli Gladstone Northcote Gladstone Hicks - Beach Gladstone R. Churchill Smith Balfour Gladstone Harcourt Balfour Campbell - Bannerman Asquith Law A. Chamberlain Law Baldwin MacDonald Baldwin MacDonald Baldwin N. Chamberlain W. Churchill Cripps Eden Morrison Chuter Ede Crookshank Butler Macleod Lloyd Bowden Crossman Peart Whitelaw Carr Prior Short Foot St John - Stevas Pym Biffen Wakeham Howe MacGregor Newton Taylor Beckett Cook Reid Hain Hoon Straw Harman Young Lansley Hague Grayling Lidington Leadsom Minister of Munitions of the United Kingdom David Lloyd George Edwin Samuel Montagu Christopher Addison Winston Churchill Lord Inverforth Fathers of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Fagg Turgis Musgrave Strangways Onslow Erle E. Vaughan R. Vaughan Powlett Isham Turner Bradshaigh Ashe Cartwright Shuttleworth Gybbon Rushout Aislabie FitzRoy - Scudamore Nugent Frederick Ellis Drake Stephens Tudway Aubrey Smith Byng Williams - Wynn Harcourt Burrell Lowther T. Williams Lowry - Corry Weld - Forester Talbot Villiers Mowbray Beach Hicks Beach Finch Campbell - Bannerman Kennaway Burt O'Connor Lloyd George Winterton O'Neill Grenfell Churchill Butler Turton Strauss Parker Callaghan Braine Heath Dalyell A. Williams Tapsell Kaufman Clarke Conservative Party History Organisations Conservative Party Archive Topics History of the Conservative Party History of conservatism in Great Britain Tories Tamworth Manifesto Carlton Club Primrose League Tariff Reform League Coalition Coupon Carlton Club meeting General election manifestos Fourth Party Liberal Unionist Party Irish Conservative Party Irish Unionist Party Scottish Unionist Party National Liberal Party Leadership House of Lords ( 1828 -- 1922 ) Wellington Derby Malmesbury Cairns Richmond Beaconsfield Salisbury Devonshire Lansdowne Curzon House of Commons ( 1834 -- 1922 ) Peel Bentinck Granby vacant ( 1848 -- 1849 ) Disraeli / Granby / Herries Disraeli Northcote Hicks Beach R. Churchill Smith Balfour Law A. Chamberlain Leaders ( 1922 -- ) Law Baldwin N. Chamberlain W. Churchill Eden Macmillan Douglas - Home Heath Thatcher Major Hague Duncan Smith Howard Cameron May Chairmen ( 1911 -- ) Steel - Maitland Younger Jackson Davidson N. Chamberlain Baird Hacking Dugdale Assheton Woolton Poole Hailsham Butler Macleod / Poole Blakenham du Cann Barber Thomas Carrington Whitelaw Thorneycroft Parkinson Gummer Tebbit Brooke Baker Patten Fowler Hanley Mawhinney Parkinson Ancram Davis May Fox / Saatchi Maude Spelman Pickles Warsi / Feldman Shapps / Feldman Feldman McLoughlin Lewis See also Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party Leadership elections 1965 Heath Thatcher 1989 Thatcher re-elected 1990 Major 1995 Major re-elected 1997 Hague 2001 Duncan Smith 2003 Howard 2005 Cameron 2016 May Next Party structure Professional Conservative Party Board Conservative Campaign Headquarters Voluntary National Conservative Convention Parliamentary 1922 Committee Conservative Chief Whip 's Office Conference Conservative Party Conference Subnational Northern Ireland Conservatives Scottish Conservatives Welsh Conservative Party Gibraltar Conservatives Directly elected city mayoral authorities London Conservatives Local Conservative Associations Associated organisations List Organisations associated with the Conservative Party Sectional groups Conservative Women 's Organisation Young Conservatives Conservatives Abroad LGBT+ Conservatives Association of Conservative Clubs Factional groups Activate The Atlantic Bridge Conservative Animal Welfare Group Conservative Christian Fellowship Conservative Countryside Forum Conservative Disability Group Conservative Europe Group Conservative Friends of America Conservative Friends of Gibraltar Conservative Friends of Israel Conservative Friends of Turkey Conservative History Group Conservative Humanist Association Conservative Mainstream Conservative Health Conservative Muslim Forum Conservative Education Society Conservative National Property Advisory Committee Conservative Rural Affairs Group Conservative Technology Forum Conservative Trade Unionists Conservative Transport Group Conservative Way Forward Conservative Women National Committee Conservative Workers & Trade Unionists Conservatives 4 Cities Conservatives Against Fox Hunting Conservatives at Work Conservatives for International Travel Cornerstone Group Countryside Alliance European Foundation Fresh Start Macleod Group Margaret Thatcher Foundation Monday Club 92 Group No Campaign No Turning Back Selsdon Group Tory Green Initiative Tory Reform Group Renewing One Nation Young Britons ' Foundation Conservative Co-operative Movement Think tanks Bow Group Bright Blue Bruges Group Centre for Policy Studies Centre for Social Justice European Foundation Policy Exchange Society of Conservative Lawyers Party alliances Current List of current alliances Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe ( European Conservatives and Reformists ) International Democrat Union ( European Democrat Union ) European Conservatives Group Conservative -- DUP agreement Former List of former alliances European People 's Party ( European People 's Party group ) European Conservative Group European Democrats Movement for European Reform Alliance for an Open Europe Ulster Conservatives and Unionists ( Ulster Unionist Party ) Conservatism portal War Cabinet of Winston Churchill Prime Minister Minister of Defence Winston Churchill ( 1940 -- 1945 ) Deputy Prime Minister Clement Attlee ( 1942 -- 1945 ) Lord President of the Council Neville Chamberlain ( 1940 ) Sir John Anderson ( 1940 -- 1943 ) Clement Attlee ( 1943 -- 1945 ) Lord Privy Seal Clement Attlee ( 1940 -- 1942 ) Sir Stafford Cripps ( 1942 ) Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Kingsley Wood ( 1940 -- 1942 ) Sir John Anderson ( 1943 -- 1945 ) Foreign Secretary Viscount Halifax ( 1940 ) Anthony Eden ( 1940 -- 1945 ) Home Secretary Herbert Morrison ( 1940 -- 1945 ) Minister of Aircraft Production Lord Beaverbrook ( 1940 -- 1941 ) Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs Clement Attlee ( 1942 -- 1943 ) Minister of Labour and National Service Ernest Bevin ( 1940 -- 1945 ) Minister Resident Middle East Oliver Lyttelton ( 1942 ) Richard Casey ( 1942 -- 1944 ) Lord Moyne ( 1944 ) Minister without Portfolio Arthur Greenwood ( 1940 -- 1942 ) Minister of Reconstruction Lord Woolton ( 1943 -- 1945 ) Minister of State Lord Beaverbrook ( 1941 ) Minister of Supply Lord Beaverbrook ( 1941 -- 1942 ) Minister of Production Lord Beaverbrook ( 1942 ) Oliver Lyttelton ( 1942 -- 1945 ) Caretaker Cabinet of Winston Churchill ( May -- July 1945 ) Lord President of the Council Lord Woolton Lord Privy Seal Lord Beaverbrook Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir John Anderson Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden Home Secretary Sir Donald Somervell First Lord of the Admiralty Brendan Bracken Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Robert Hudson Secretary of State for Air Harold Macmillan Secretary of State for the Colonies Oliver Stanley Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs Viscount Cranborne Minister of Education Richard Law Secretary of State for India and Burma Leo Amery Minister of Labour and National Service Rab Butler Minister of Production President of the Board of Trade Oliver Lyttelton Secretary of State for Scotland The Earl of Rosebery Secretary of State for War Sir P.J. Grigg Cabinet of Sir Winston Churchill ( 1951 -- 1955 ) Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Sir Winston Churchill ( 1951 -- 55 ) Lord Chancellor The Lord Simonds ( 1951 -- 54 ) The Viscount Kilmuir ( 1954 -- 55 ) Lord President of the Council The Lord Woolton ( 1951 -- 52 ) The Marquess of Salisbury ( 1952 -- 55 ) Lord Privy Seal The Marquess of Salisbury ( 1951 -- 52 ) Harry Crookshank ( 1952 -- 55 ) Chancellor of the Exchequer Rab Butler ( 1951 -- 55 ) Foreign Secretary Sir Anthony Eden ( 1951 -- 55 ) Home Secretary Welsh Secretary Sir David Maxwell Fyfe ( 1951 -- 54 ) Gwilym Lloyd George ( 1954 -- 55 ) Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Derick Heathcoat - Armory ( 1954 -- 55 ) Secretary of State for the Colonies Oliver Lyttelton ( 1951 -- 54 ) Alan Lennox - Boyd ( 1954 -- 55 ) Minister for Coordination of Transport, Fuel and Power The Lord Leathers ( 1951 -- 53 ) Minister of Defence Winston Churchill ( 1951 -- 52 ) The Earl Alexander of Tunis ( 1952 -- 54 ) Harold Macmillan ( 1954 -- 55 ) Minister of Education Florence Horsbrugh ( 1951 - 1954 - in cabinet 1953 - 1954 only ) Sir David Eccles ( 1954 -- 55 ) Minister of Health Harry Crookshank ( 1951 -- 52 ) Ministry of Housing and Local Government Harold Macmillan ( 1951 -- 54 ) Duncan Sandys ( 1954 -- 55 ) Minister of Labour and National Service Sir Walter Monckton ( 1951 -- 55 ) Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The Lord Woolton ( 1952 -- 55 ) Minister of Materials The Lord Woolton ( 1953 -- 55 ) Paymaster General The Lord Cherwell ( 1951 -- 53 ) Secretary of State for Scotland James Stuart ( 1951 -- 55 ) War Cabinet of Neville Chamberlain ( 1939 -- 1940 ) Prime Minister Leader of the House of Commons Neville Chamberlain ( 1939 -- 1940 ) Lord Privy Seal Sir Samuel Hoare ( 1939 -- 1940 ) Sir Kingsley Wood ( 1940 ) Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir John Simon ( 1939 -- 1940 ) Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax ( 1939 -- 1940 ) Secretary of State for War Leslie Hore - Belisha ( 1939 -- 1940 ) Oliver Stanley ( 1940 ) Secretary of State for Air Sir Kingsley Wood ( 1939 -- 1940 ) Sir Samuel Hoare ( 1940 ) First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill ( 1939 -- 1940 ) Minister for Co-ordination of Defence Lord Chatfield ( 1939 -- 1940 ) Minister without Portfolio Lord Hankey ( 1939 -- 1940 ) Cold War USA USSR ANZUS NATO Non-Aligned Movement SEATO Warsaw Pact Cold War II 1940s Morgenthau Plan Hukbalahap Rebellion Jamaican conflict Dekemvriana Percentages agreement Yalta Conference Guerrilla war in the Baltic states Forest Brothers Operation Priboi Operation Jungle Occupation of the Baltic states Cursed soldiers Operation Unthinkable Operation Downfall Potsdam Conference Gouzenko Affair Division of Korea Operation Masterdom Operation Beleaguer Operation Blacklist Forty Iran crisis of 1946 Greek Civil War Baruch Plan Corfu Channel incident Turkish Straits crisis Restatement of Policy on Germany First Indochina War Truman Doctrine Asian Relations Conference May 1947 Crises Marshall Plan Comecon 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état Tito -- Stalin Split Berlin Blockade Western betrayal Iron Curtain Eastern Bloc Western Bloc Chinese Civil War ( Second round ) Malayan Emergency Albanian Subversion 1950s Papua conflict Bamboo Curtain Korean War McCarthyism Algerian War 1952 Egyptian coup d'état 1953 Iranian coup d'état Uprising of 1953 in East Germany Dirty War ( Mexico ) Bricker Amendment 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état Partition of Vietnam Vietnam War First Taiwan Strait Crisis Geneva Summit ( 1955 ) Bandung Conference Poznań 1956 protests Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Suez Crisis `` We will bury you '' Ifni War Operation Gladio Arab Cold War Syrian Crisis of 1957 1958 Lebanon crisis Iraqi 14 July Revolution Sputnik crisis Second Taiwan Strait Crisis 1959 Tibetan uprising Cuban Revolution Kitchen Debate Sino - Soviet split 1960s Congo Crisis Simba rebellion 1960 U-2 incident Bay of Pigs Invasion 1960 Turkish coup d'état Soviet -- Albanian split Berlin Crisis of 1961 Berlin Wall Portuguese Colonial War Angolan War of Independence Guinea - Bissau War of Independence Mozambican War of Independence Cuban Missile Crisis El Porteñazo Sino - Indian War Communist insurgency in Sarawak Iraqi Ramadan Revolution Eritrean War of Independence Sand War North Yemen Civil War Aden Emergency 1963 Syrian coup d'état Vietnam War Shifta War Guatemalan Civil War Colombian conflict Nicaraguan Revolution 1964 Brazilian coup d'état Dominican Civil War South African Border War Transition to the New Order ( Indonesia ) Domino theory ASEAN Declaration Laotian Civil War 1966 Syrian coup d'état Argentine Revolution Korean DMZ Conflict Greek military junta of 1967 -- 74 Years of Lead ( Italy ) USS Pueblo incident Six - Day War War of Attrition Dhofar Rebellion Al - Wadiah War Nigerian Civil War Protests of 1968 French May Tlatelolco massacre Cultural Revolution Prague Spring 1968 Polish political crisis Communist insurgency in Malaysia Invasion of Czechoslovakia Iraqi Ba'athist Revolution 1969 Libyan coup d'état Goulash Communism Sino - Soviet border conflict CPP -- NPA -- NDF rebellion Corrective Move 1970s Détente Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Black September in Jordan Corrective Movement ( Syria ) Cambodian Civil War Koza riot Realpolitik Ping - pong diplomacy Uganda -- Tanzania War 1971 Turkish military memorandum Corrective Revolution ( Egypt ) Four Power Agreement on Berlin Bangladesh Liberation War 1972 Nixon visit to China North Yemen - South Yemen Border conflict of 1972 Yemenite War of 1972 Communist insurgency in Bangladesh NDF Rebellion Eritrean Civil Wars 1973 Uruguayan coup d'état 1973 Chilean coup d'état Yom Kippur War 1973 oil crisis Carnation Revolution Spanish transition Metapolitefsi Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Rhodesian Bush War Angolan Civil War Mozambican Civil War Oromo conflict Ogaden War Ethiopian Civil War Lebanese Civil War Sino - Albanian split Cambodian -- Vietnamese War Sino - Vietnamese War Operation Condor Dirty War ( Argentina ) 1976 Argentine coup d'état German Autumn Korean Air Lines Flight 902 Yemenite War of 1979 Grand Mosque seizure Iranian Revolution Saur Revolution New Jewel Movement 1979 Herat uprising Seven Days to the River Rhine Struggle against political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union 1980s Soviet -- Afghan War 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics boycotts 1980 Turkish coup d'état Peruvian conflict Gulf of Sidra incident Casamance conflict Ugandan Bush War Lord 's Resistance Army insurgency Eritrean Civil Wars 1982 Ethiopian -- Somali Border War Ndogboyosoi War United States invasion of Grenada Able Archer 83 Star Wars Iran -- Iraq War Somali Rebellion 1986 Black Sea incident 1988 Black Sea bumping incident South Yemen Civil War Bougainville Civil War 8888 Uprising Solidarity Soviet reaction Contras Central American crisis RYAN Korean Air Lines Flight 007 People Power Revolution Glasnost Perestroika Nagorno - Karabakh War Afghan Civil War United States invasion of Panama 1988 Polish strikes Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 Revolutions of 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall Velvet Revolution Romanian Revolution Peaceful Revolution Die Wende 1990s Mongolian Revolution of 1990 German reunification Yemeni unification Fall of communism in Albania Breakup of Yugoslavia Dissolution of the Soviet Union Dissolution of Czechoslovakia Frozen conflicts Abkhazia China - Taiwan Korea Nagorno - Karabakh South Ossetia Transnistria Sino - Indian border dispute North Borneo dispute Foreign policy Truman Doctrine Containment Eisenhower Doctrine Domino theory Hallstein Doctrine Kennedy Doctrine Peaceful coexistence Ostpolitik Johnson Doctrine Brezhnev Doctrine Nixon Doctrine Ulbricht Doctrine Carter Doctrine Reagan Doctrine Rollback Sovereignty of Puerto Rico during the Cold War Ideologies Capitalism Chicago school Keynesianism Monetarism Neoclassical economics Reaganomics Supply - side economics Thatcherism Communism Marxism -- Leninism Castroism Eurocommunism Guevarism Hoxhaism Juche Maoism Trotskyism Naxalism Stalinism Titoism Other Fascism Islamism Liberal democracy Social democracy Third - Worldism White supremacy Apartheid Organizations ASEAN CIA Comecon EEC KGB MI6 Non-Aligned Movement SAARC Safari Club Stasi Propaganda Active measures Crusade for Freedom Izvestia Pravda Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Red Scare TASS Voice of America Voice of Russia Races Arms race Nuclear arms race Space Race See also Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War Soviet espionage in the United States Soviet Union -- United States relations USSR -- USA summits Russian espionage in the United States American espionage in the Soviet Union and Russian Federation Russia -- NATO relations Brinkmanship CIA and the Cultural Cold War Cold War II Category Commons Portal Timeline List of conflicts Recipients of the Charlemagne Prize 1950 -- 1975 1950 Richard von Coudenhove - Kalergi 1951 Hendrik Brugmans 1952 Alcide De Gasperi 1953 Jean Monnet 1954 Konrad Adenauer 1955 1956 Winston Churchill 1957 Paul - Henri Spaak 1958 Robert Schuman 1959 George Marshall 1960 Joseph Bech 1961 Walter Hallstein 1962 1963 Edward Heath 1964 Antonio Segni 1965 1966 Jens Otto Krag 1967 Joseph Luns 1968 1969 European Commission 1970 François Seydoux de Clausonne 1971 1972 Roy Jenkins 1973 Salvador de Madariaga 1976 -- 2000 1976 Leo Tindemans 1977 Walter Scheel 1978 Konstantinos Karamanlis 1979 Emilio Colombo 1980 1981 Simone Veil 1982 King Juan Carlos I 1984 1985 1986 People of Luxembourg 1987 Henry Kissinger 1988 François Mitterrand / Helmut Kohl 1989 Brother Roger 1990 Gyula Horn 1991 Václav Havel 1992 Jacques Delors 1993 Felipe González 1994 Gro Harlem Brundtland 1995 Franz Vranitzky 1996 Queen Beatrix 1997 Roman Herzog 1998 Bronisław Geremek 1999 Tony Blair 2000 Bill Clinton 2001 -- present 2001 György Konrád 2002 Euro 2003 Valéry Giscard d'Estaing 2004 Pat Cox / Pope John Paul II 2005 Carlo Azeglio Ciampi 2006 Jean - Claude Juncker 2007 Javier Solana 2008 Angela Merkel 2009 Andrea Riccardi 2010 Donald Tusk 2011 Jean - Claude Trichet 2012 Wolfgang Schäuble 2013 Dalia Grybauskaitė 2014 Herman Van Rompuy 2015 Martin Schulz 2016 Pope Francis 2017 Timothy Garton Ash 2018 Emmanuel Macron Received extraordinary prize. Laureates of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1901 -- 1925 1901 Sully Prudhomme 1902 Theodor Mommsen 1903 Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson 1904 Frédéric Mistral / José Echegaray 1905 Henryk Sienkiewicz 1906 Giosuè Carducci 1907 Rudyard Kipling 1908 Rudolf Eucken 1909 Selma Lagerlöf 1910 Paul Heyse 1911 Maurice Maeterlinck 1912 Gerhart Hauptmann 1913 Rabindranath Tagore 1914 1915 Romain Rolland 1916 Verner von Heidenstam 1917 Karl Gjellerup / Henrik Pontoppidan 1918 1919 Carl Spitteler 1920 Knut Hamsun 1921 Anatole France 1922 Jacinto Benavente 1923 W.B. Yeats 1924 Władysław Reymont 1925 George Bernard Shaw 1926 -- 1950 1926 Grazia Deledda 1927 Henri Bergson 1928 Sigrid Undset 1929 Thomas Mann 1930 Sinclair Lewis 1931 Erik Axel Karlfeldt 1932 John Galsworthy 1933 Ivan Bunin 1934 Luigi Pirandello 1935 1936 Eugene O'Neill 1937 Roger Martin du Gard 1938 Pearl S. Buck 1939 Frans Eemil Sillanpää 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 Johannes V. Jensen 1945 Gabriela Mistral 1946 Hermann Hesse 1947 André Gide 1948 T.S. Eliot 1949 William Faulkner 1950 Bertrand Russell 1951 -- 1975 1951 Pär Lagerkvist 1952 François Mauriac 1953 Winston Churchill 1954 Ernest Hemingway 1955 Halldór Laxness 1956 Juan Ramón Jiménez 1957 Albert Camus 1958 Boris Pasternak 1959 Salvatore Quasimodo 1960 Saint - John Perse 1961 Ivo Andrić 1962 John Steinbeck 1963 Giorgos Seferis 1964 Jean - Paul Sartre ( declined award ) 1965 Mikhail Sholokhov 1966 Shmuel Yosef Agnon / Nelly Sachs 1967 Miguel Ángel Asturias 1968 Yasunari Kawabata 1969 Samuel Beckett 1970 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1971 Pablo Neruda 1972 Heinrich Böll 1973 Patrick White 1974 Eyvind Johnson / Harry Martinson 1975 Eugenio Montale 1976 -- 2000 1976 Saul Bellow 1977 Vicente Aleixandre 1978 Isaac Bashevis Singer 1979 Odysseas Elytis 1980 Czesław Miłosz 1981 Elias Canetti 1982 Gabriel García Márquez 1983 William Golding 1984 Jaroslav Seifert 1985 Claude Simon 1986 Wole Soyinka 1987 Joseph Brodsky 1988 Naguib Mahfouz 1989 Camilo José Cela 1990 Octavio Paz 1991 Nadine Gordimer 1992 Derek Walcott 1993 Toni Morrison 1994 Kenzaburō Ōe 1995 Seamus Heaney 1996 Wisława Szymborska 1997 Dario Fo 1998 José Saramago 1999 Günter Grass 2000 Gao Xingjian 2001 -- present 2001 V.S. Naipaul 2002 Imre Kertész 2003 J.M. Coetzee 2004 Elfriede Jelinek 2005 Harold Pinter 2006 Orhan Pamuk 2007 Doris Lessing 2008 J.M.G. Le Clézio 2009 Herta Müller 2010 Mario Vargas Llosa 2011 Tomas Tranströmer 2012 Mo Yan 2013 Alice Munro 2014 Patrick Modiano 2015 Svetlana Alexievich 2016 Bob Dylan 2017 Kazuo Ishiguro Time Persons of the Year 1927 -- 1950 Charles Lindbergh ( 1927 ) Walter Chrysler ( 1928 ) Owen D. Young ( 1929 ) Mohandas Gandhi ( 1930 ) Pierre Laval ( 1931 ) Franklin D. Roosevelt ( 1932 ) Hugh S. Johnson ( 1933 ) Franklin D. Roosevelt ( 1934 ) Haile Selassie ( 1935 ) Wallis Simpson ( 1936 ) Chiang Kai - shek / Soong Mei - ling ( 1937 ) Adolf Hitler ( 1938 ) Joseph Stalin ( 1939 ) Winston Churchill ( 1940 ) Franklin D. Roosevelt ( 1941 ) Joseph Stalin ( 1942 ) George Marshall ( 1943 ) Dwight D. Eisenhower ( 1944 ) Harry S. Truman ( 1945 ) James F. Byrnes ( 1946 ) George Marshall ( 1947 ) Harry S. Truman ( 1948 ) Winston Churchill ( 1949 ) The American Fighting - Man ( 1950 ) 1951 -- 1975 Mohammed Mosaddeq ( 1951 ) Elizabeth II ( 1952 ) Konrad Adenauer ( 1953 ) John Foster Dulles ( 1954 ) Harlow Curtice ( 1955 ) Hungarian Freedom Fighters ( 1956 ) Nikita Khrushchev ( 1957 ) Charles de Gaulle ( 1958 ) Dwight D. Eisenhower ( 1959 ) U.S. Scientists : George Beadle / Charles Draper / John Enders / Donald A. Glaser / Joshua Lederberg / Willard Libby / Linus Pauling / Edward Purcell / Isidor Rabi / Emilio Segrè / William Shockley / Edward Teller / Charles Townes / James Van Allen / Robert Woodward ( 1960 ) John F. Kennedy ( 1961 ) Pope John XXIII ( 1962 ) Martin Luther King Jr. ( 1963 ) Lyndon B. Johnson ( 1964 ) William Westmoreland ( 1965 ) The Generation Twenty - Five and Under ( 1966 ) Lyndon B. Johnson ( 1967 ) The Apollo 8 Astronauts : William Anders / Frank Borman / Jim Lovell ( 1968 ) The Middle Americans ( 1969 ) Willy Brandt ( 1970 ) Richard Nixon ( 1971 ) Henry Kissinger / Richard Nixon ( 1972 ) John Sirica ( 1973 ) King Faisal ( 1974 ) American Women : Susan Brownmiller / Kathleen Byerly / Alison Cheek / Jill Conway / Betty Ford / Ella Grasso / Carla Hills / Barbara Jordan / Billie Jean King / Susie Sharp / Carol Sutton / Addie Wyatt ( 1975 ) 1976 -- 2000 Jimmy Carter ( 1976 ) Anwar Sadat ( 1977 ) Deng Xiaoping ( 1978 ) Ayatollah Khomeini ( 1979 ) Ronald Reagan ( 1980 ) Lech Wałęsa ( 1981 ) The Computer ( 1982 ) Ronald Reagan / Yuri Andropov ( 1983 ) Peter Ueberroth ( 1984 ) Deng Xiaoping ( 1985 ) Corazon Aquino ( 1986 ) Mikhail Gorbachev ( 1987 ) The Endangered Earth ( 1988 ) Mikhail Gorbachev ( 1989 ) George H.W. Bush ( 1990 ) Ted Turner ( 1991 ) Bill Clinton ( 1992 ) The Peacemakers : Yasser Arafat / F.W. de Klerk / Nelson Mandela / Yitzhak Rabin ( 1993 ) Pope John Paul II ( 1994 ) Newt Gingrich ( 1995 ) David Ho ( 1996 ) Andrew Grove ( 1997 ) Bill Clinton / Ken Starr ( 1998 ) Jeffrey P. Bezos ( 1999 ) George W. Bush ( 2000 ) 2001 -- present Rudolph Giuliani ( 2001 ) The Whistleblowers : Cynthia Cooper / Coleen Rowley / Sherron Watkins ( 2002 ) The American Soldier ( 2003 ) George W. Bush ( 2004 ) The Good Samaritans : Bono / Bill Gates / Melinda Gates ( 2005 ) You ( 2006 ) Vladimir Putin ( 2007 ) Barack Obama ( 2008 ) Ben Bernanke ( 2009 ) Mark Zuckerberg ( 2010 ) The Protester ( 2011 ) Barack Obama ( 2012 ) Pope Francis ( 2013 ) Ebola Fighters : Dr. Jerry Brown / Dr. Kent Brantly / Ella Watson - Stryker / Foday Gollah / Salome Karwah ( 2014 ) Angela Merkel ( 2015 ) Donald Trump ( 2016 ) The Silence Breakers ( 2017 ) Book BIBSYS : 90117157 BNE : XX850994 BNF : cb119836090 ( data ) CiNii : DA0065926X GND : 118520776 HDS : 42890 ISNI : 0000 0001 2096 6628 KulturNav : 64ea9f31 - 622b - 44b6 - a357 - f6433ce35bb2 LCCN : n78085430 MusicBrainz : e9fb8bad - ec0e - 4cf1 - aa82 - a7e04a34b278 NARA : 10583171 NDL : 00436010 NKC : jn19990003864 NLA : 35908632 RKD : 16810 ICCU : IT ICCU RAVV 003813 SELIBR : 181701 SNAC : w6pr85g0 SUDOC : 027891631 ULAN : 500028788 VIAF : 94507588 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Winston_Churchill&oldid=857094499 '' Categories : Winston Churchill 4th Queen 's Own Hussars officers 19th - century English writers 20th - century biographers 20th - century English historians 20th - century English writers 1874 births 1965 deaths Admiralty personnel of World War II British Army personnel of the Mahdist War British Army personnel of World War I British Empire in World War II British escapees British military personnel of the Malakand Frontier War British Odd Fellows British prisoners of war British war correspondents Burials at St Martin 's Church, Bladon Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster Chancellors of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom Chancellors of the University of Bristol Companions of the Liberation Congressional Gold Medal recipients Conservative Party ( UK ) MPs for English constituencies Conservative Party Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom Deputy Lieutenants of Kent English agnostics English anti-communists English biographers English eugenicists English people of American descent English people of Huguenot descent Fellows of the Royal Society First Lords of the Admiralty Foreign recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal ( United States ) Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England Freemen of the City of London Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Grand Crosses of the Order of the Oak Crown History of the tank Honorary air commodores Knights of the Garter Leaders of the Conservative Party ( UK ) Leaders of the House of Commons Leaders of the Opposition ( United Kingdom ) Liberal Party ( UK ) MPs for English constituencies Lords Warden of the Cinque Ports Members of the Order of Merit Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Dundee constituencies Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the Queen 's Privy Council for Canada Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium Members of Trinity House Operation Overlord people Nobel laureates in Literature People educated at Harrow School People educated at St. George 's School, Ascot People from Woodstock, Oxfordshire People with mood disorders Politicians awarded knighthoods Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom Queen 's Own Oxfordshire Hussars officers Recipients of the Croix de guerre ( Belgium ) Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939 -- 1945 ( France ) Recipients of the Order of the Star of Nepal Recipients of the Order of the White Lion Rectors of the University of Aberdeen Rectors of the University of Edinburgh Royal Scots Fusiliers officers Scottish Liberal Party MPs Second Boer War prisoners of war Secretaries of State for Air ( UK ) Secretaries of State for the Colonies Secretaries of State for the Home Department Secretaries of State for War ( UK ) South African Light Horse officers UK MPs 1900 -- 06 UK MPs 1906 -- 10 UK MPs 1910 -- 18 UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1918 -- 22 UK MPs 1924 -- 29 UK MPs 1929 -- 31 UK MPs 1931 -- 35 UK MPs 1935 -- 45 UK MPs 1945 -- 50 UK MPs 1950 -- 51 UK MPs 1951 -- 55 UK MPs 1955 -- 59 UK MPs 1959 -- 64 Victorian writers World War II political leaders Hidden categories : CS1 : Julian -- Gregorian uncertainty Pages containing London Gazette template with parameter supp set to y Pages with missing ISBNs Articles needing more detailed references CS1 Norwegian - 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Question: who was the king of england when winston churchill was prime minister
Answer: George VI