The political demise of British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith began to look likely in 1916, when he lost an argument in Parliament over conscription into the armed forces. Despite the high casualty rate, which eventually made full conscription unavoidable, Asquith had clung to the hope that the Army could be maintained as a volunteer force.
Return to politics
While he was still serving In France, Winston could see why this was impossible. The Sixth Royal Scots Fusiliers, the infantry battalion he commanded, suffered such appalling casualties that its survivors had to be absorbed into another unit. This left Winston without a military command. As a result, he returned to Britain and took up his seat in Parliament.
The first task he set himself was to clear his name of blame for the Dardanelles disaster of 1915/1916. He soon realized just how difficult this was going to be. As First Lord of the Admiralty, he had been widely considered responsible for the failure of the Dardanelles campaign and the thousands of casualties the Allied forces had suffered.
Winston was openly insulted in the House of Commons, where his speeches, whatever their subject, were punctuated by cries of “What about the Dardanelles?” In the Conservative press, his “ghastly blunders” were repeatedly examined in detail. Conservative Members of Parliament deliberately ostracized him.
Winston clears his name
Stung into action, Winston insisted on an exhaustive inquiry into the handling of the ill-fated offensive. A Royal Commission was duly appointed and, as Winston had hoped, its members exonerated him.
Instead, the Commission found other culprits. Its members pointed the finger at Asquith for approving every stage of the operation and also censured Admiral Lord Kitchener, who was now dead, for his indecision and neglect.
Asquith resigned in December 1916 and was replaced by the Liberal leader David Lloyd George. Although Lloyd George wanted Winston in his cabinet, there were obstacles preventing his return to ministerial office. The Conservatives in Parliament had never forgiven Churchill for deserting the Party in 1904 and joining the Liberals. Twelve years later, their hostility still burned hot and strong.
The Conservative press claimed that Winston lacked judgment. In Parliament, Lord Curzon, one-time Viceroy of India and a member of the war cabinet, called him “an active danger in our midst.”
The situation was, however, saved by an act of magnanimity from Dr. Christopher Addison, the Minister of Munitions. Addison’s admiration for Winston was so profound that he voluntarily gave up his post so that Winston could succeed him. The appointment went through on July 24, 1917.
Winston’s grace and charm
One of Winston’s first tasks as Minister of Munitions was to settle a strike at the important Beardmore munitions works on the River Clyde outside Glasgow, in Scotland.
The strikers’ leader, David Kirkwood, was invited to London to talk the problem over. Expecting an arrogant reception from a minister who was, after all, a member of the ‘”high and mighty” British aristocracy, Kirkwood was amazed when, instead, Winston proved both courteous and charming.
He greeted Kirkwood warmly and offered him tea and cakes. Before long, the two men had worked out a mutually acceptable answer to problems which no one else in government had been able to solve in the eighteen months since the strike began.
Meeting challenges
Winston tackled the challenges of his new position with considerable gusto. He streamlined his Ministry and galvanized armaments factories into higher production. He liaised with the French and also with the Americans, who entered the war in 1917, to coordinate the supply of guns and shells to the armies at the fighting fronts.
World War One came to an end with the armistice signed on November 11, 1918. Four days later, Clementine gave birth to her fourth child, Marigold Frances, but a General Election was imminent and her husband could spend only a short time with his third daughter.
He was re-elected Member of Parliament for the safe seat of Dundee, a seat he first won in May 1908, with a large majority of 15,365 votes and became Secretary of State for War and Air in Lloyd George’s coalition government.
The War had convulsed Europe as never before, but the upheavals did not end with the armistice. At the War Office and afterward in his role as Colonial Secretary from 1921, Winston was closely involved in the dramas that ensued.
Troubles in Ireland
In Ireland the British Army was locked in conflict with the Republican nationalist movement. The British brought in the “Black and Tans”, an auxiliary police force recruited from ex-soldiers, in an attempt to suppress the terror tactics used by the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
The Black and Tans’ methods were brutal, but Winston soon realized that the IRA could not be overcome by force. Consequently, in October 1921, he engaged in talks with Michael Collins, one of the IRA leaders.
The two men formulated a treaty which created an Irish Free State, partitioning Ireland into a Catholic South and a Protestant North. Unfortunately, this failed to resolve the crisis and the struggle continued until late into the twentieth century.
Problems in Palestine
Ireland was not Churchill’s only concern. As Colonial Secretary with responsibility for the new Middle East department, Winston found religious disputes of a very different kind. Palestine had long been part of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, but after the War, the territory came under British rule.
Although it was largely settled by the Muslim Arabs, it was regarded by Jews as their historical homeland. The Jews longed to retrieve Palestine and the British government pledged support for their aim with the Balfour Declaration of 1917.
The loss of land, which was later made official in 1948 by the creation of the Jewish state of Israel by a vote in the United Nations, was bitterly resented by the Arabs. The resultant hostilities have continued unabated to this day.
Please see also: The Life and Struggles of Winston Churchill: tragedy and triumph
Sources
Sexton, Brendan: Ireland and the Crown, 1922-1936: The Governor-Generalship of the Irish Free State (History S.) (Dublin, Ireland: Irish Academic Press, 1990) ISBN-10: 0716524481/ISBN-13: 978-0716524489
Matthews, Rupert: Winston Churchill: A Life (Penguin Lives) (London, UK: Penguin publishers, 2007) ISBN-10: 0143112643/ISBN-13: 978-0143112648
Dardanelles Campaign - New World Encyclopedia
Brenda Ralph Lewis - My interest in history dates from childhood. I am presently the author of 120 books and hundreds of articles, all on historical ...
