A MERCURIAL POLITICIAN,

Transcription

1 A MERCURIAL POLITICIAN,

2 Elected to Commons from Oldham as a Conservative (Tory), 1900

3 Edward VII, r Britain was a great power and, after the Boer War, at peace

4 Churchill served in Commons first as a Conservative, then as a Liberal... And back to the Conservatives

5 6 decades in the House of Commons, (except )

6 1902: Socialist Beatrice Webb met Winston, age 28, at a dinner Restless almost intolerably so, without capacity for unexciting labor egotistical, bumptious, shallow-minded and reactionary, but with a certain personal magnetism... Talked exclusively about himself... Restless, self-regarding personality, and lack of moral or intellectual refinement.

7 Conservatives promoted tariffs on all but imports from the Empire

8 Joseph Chamberlain called for Imperial Preference like Brexit

9 1904: Left the Conservative Party due to his opposition to higher tariffs Actually he thought the Tories would go out of office and his chances of advancement were better in the Liberal Party

10 Liberals represented working and middle classes

11 An unequal class system

12 Winston discovered poverty only when he read about it

13 Churchill thought slums were unbelievable

14 1905: As a Liberal he was named Under- Secretary for the Colonies

15 Churchill wrote a constitution acceptable to the Afrikaners BUT IT LEFT AFRICANS, 90 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION, WITH NO RIGHTS THE SEEDS OF APARTHEID

16 When Oldham deselected him, Winston won in Manchester, 1906

17 Young Winston dated American actress Ethel Barrymore when she played on the London stage He had a huge crush on Ethel. But who didn t?

18 350 porters and servants on Winston s private safari in East Africa,1907

19 Slaughtered 23 species in 10 days

20 1906: Winston s two-volume biography of his father

21 At 32, a very eligible bachelor

22 Clementine Hozier, Granddaughter of the Earl of Airlie Met Winston at a dinner party, 1908

23 courting

24 Winston proposed in the Temple of Diana, Blenheim Palace

25 1908 Winston arriving for his wedding to Clementine

26 St. Margaret s Westminster and the Abbey

27 Winston s and Clementine s wedding Their marriage lasted 57 years. They had five children

28 Happily married for the rest of his life

29 33 Eccleston Square, London

30 1908: Elected as M.P. for Dundee

31 1908: Churchill rose to cabinet rank under P.M. Asquith, as President of the Board of Trade F

32 Liberals improved conditions of employment

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34 Labour exchanges were popular

35 1910: Appointed to the cabinet office of Home Secretary

36 1911: Home Secretary Churchill directed the Sidney Street siege

37 Army besieges Latvian anarchist robbers and killers

38 I thought it best to let the house burn down rather than risk good British lives to rescue those ferocious rascals. WC testimony in House

39 Liberal David Lloyd-George encouraged Churchill s desire for reform

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41 George V ( ) The king threatened to swamp Lords with newly created beer barons and bathtub earls self made men (and possibly rather uncouth) Lords caved in to the threat

42 The unelected House of Lords lost significant power in 1911 by their own vote of 131 to 114.

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45 Winston was thought to be arrogant, disloyal, and overly ambitious but brilliant

46 Churchill advocated sterilization

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48 October 1911 Prime Minister Asquith named Churchill First Lord of the Admiralty

49 Admiral Sir John Fisher, Churchill relied on Fisher s advice on naval matters

50 Churchill watching German maneuvers with the Kaiser

51 As First Lord Churchill spent three months each year aboard Admiralty yacht Enchantress

52 Admiral von Tirpitz convinced Wilhem II to build a navy to rival Britain s

53 After this incident Churchill concentrated on arming against Germany d

54 Churchill must decide between guns and butter defense or welfare

55 WC converted the fleet from coal to oil. Britain had coal but no oil

56 To supply the fleet, British got oil leases from Persia later Iran

57 Certainly this could never cause a problem (?) Right?

58 Dreadnought class battle ships

59 Fleet at Spithead sailed past the king s yacht for 6 hours, July 1914

60 1912: Winston took flying lessons until Clementine grounded him

61 Winston went up 140 times before his last flight November 29, 1913.

62 June 28, 1914, Sarajevo Bosnia

63 Age 40: First Lord of the Admiralty, in charge of the world s greatest navy If Churchill got through the war without a major blunder, he would be prime minister by age 50

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65 Thanks for your attention