page_title: Winston Churchill in politics, 1900–1939
section_title: Entry into politics
hierarchical_section_title: Winston Churchill in politics, 1900–1939 / Early years in Parliament / Entry into politics
context_page_description: Churchill entered Parliament as member for Oldham in 1900 as a Conservative. He changed parties in 1904 after increasing disagreement with the mainstream Conservative policy of protectionist tariffs preferentially favouring trade with the British Empire, joining the Liberals and winning the seat of Manchester North West. His political ascent was rapid; he became, successively, Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary, and First Lord of the Admiralty, all before he was 40 years old.
  His career suffered a severe check in 1915, after his support for the failed Dardanelles Campaign during World War I, and the subsequent formation of the first Coalition. Temporarily leaving politics, he served on the Western Front before rejoining the Government after David Lloyd George had replaced H. H. Asquith as prime minister. He served as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War, Secretary of State for Air, and Secretary of State for the Colonies before the downfall of the Coalition in 1922 when he also lost his seat in Parliament.
context_section_description: Churchill discussed his political convictions in letters to his mother and made a number of unflattering comments about the Conservative government including:
  Were it not for home rule [in Ireland] to which I will never consent—I would enter parliament as a Liberal. As it is—Tory Democracy will have to be the standard under which I shall range myself.
  His beliefs were significantly influenced by those of his father, Lord Randolph, after whose early death he wrote:
  All my dreams of companionship with him, of entering Parliament at his side and in his support were ended. There remained only for me to pursue his aims and vindicate his memory.
  Randolph had been a fervent supporter of Ulster Unionism and had played a major part in formulating the policy of "Tory Democracy", though he had chosen a career in the army for Churchill. After a few years of army life Churchill came to realise that he could not hope to support himself on army pay, and writing remained his main source of income throughout his life. His military career would be valuable for giving him the fame needed to enter politics, however, as he wrote to his mother:
  A few months in South Africa would earn me the SA medal and in all probability the Company's Star. Thence hot-foot to Egypt—to return with two more decorations in a year or two—and beat my sword into an iron dispatch box.
  His first political appearance was at a meeting of the Conservative Primrose League, in Bath in 1897, while at home on leave from the army in India. Having discovered that the Conservative Party needed speakers, as he later commented: "I surveyed the prospect with the eye of an urchin looking through a pastrycook's window". The speech concerned the benefits to the working man of "Tory Democracy" and was reported in the Morning Post.
  His first attempt to enter Parliament was unsuccessful when in July 1899 he was defeated in a by-election for the seat of Oldham in Lancashire. The constituency returned two members of parliament, both Conservatives at the previous election. One of them was ill and sought to retire, and Churchill was chosen as the new candidate. However, before the election the second member died so that two new candidates stood against two respected Liberal candidates, at a time when the popularity of the Conservative government was in decline.
  Churchill looked about for a way to improve his public standing after the defeat. He arranged to travel as a war correspondent to South Africa, fortified by a letter of recommendation to the high commissioner, Alfred Milner, from the Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, who had been a friend of his father, and by a promise of a military attachment. His reputation was considerably improved by his war reports published in national newspapers, and by his own military exploits, particularly his capture by and escape from the Boers.
caption: Churchill's poster in Oldham for the 1900 general election. He was elected to Parliament for the first time.
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