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Notes summarising the entirety of the Churchill case study section of the British History topic.
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Churchill Enquiry TopicChapter 1-Churchill's view of events
Why was Churchill out of office in 1929-39?
Winston Churchill was a highly experienced minister and one of Britain’s leading politicians, but during a vital period
he was out of office. The Conservatives lost the general election of May 1929, and when Macdonald formed his
National Government in August 1931 Churchill was not part of it. When the National Government became
increasingly Conservative in nature, Churchill was still ‘in the wilderness’, and it was not until the start of the war in
1939 that he was back in the cabinet.
Previous reputation
Churchill was not liked by either Labour or the Liberals so would have been a difficult person to have in a coalition in
1931. There were several reasons for this:
Labour remembered his bitter attacks on the trade unions during the General Strike of 1926 and even his
use of troops against strikers in South Wales before the First World War.
His responsibility for the failed Gallipoli attacks in 1915 also made him unpopular.
He was blamed for the high unemployment because of his policy of returning Britain to the Gold Standard in
1925, which raised export prices.
He had taken a strong line against making concessions to Indian self-government, which went against the
views of moderates in all parties.
He had been critical of not only Labour policy on India between 1929 and 1931 but also of the Conservative
leader Baldwin’s support for negotiations with the Indian nationalists and Gandhi.
He was considered to have aligned himself with extreme right-wing imperialists and to be out of touch with
more modern Conservative politics.
Churchill’s stance in the mid-1930's
Churchill was not invited back into government in the mid-1930's when Stanley Baldwin, and later Neville
Chamberlain, became Prime Ministers and the former Labour Party PM MacDonald retired. The reasons for this
centred around his speaking out on the danger posed by Germany and his belief that Britain should rearm generally
and needed greater air defences in particular. This was out of line with mainstream thinking. He seemed too willing
to risk war again when public opinion seemed opposed to conflict, and there was a belief in reaching negotiated
settlements. Chamberlain became PM in 1937 and was very committed to the policy of Appeasement. Churchill’s
speeches made better relations more difficult, and he did not seem to offer a realistic alternative to the
Government’s policy.
Churchill’s criticism of the British defences seemed hypocritical because it was the defence cuts of the 1920s which
laid the basis for Britain’s military weakness. The urge to rearm also seemed to ignore the economic realities of the
1930s, when government spending had been cut and unemployment was high. Spending money on what might be
seen as an ‘arms race’ when there were very stringent conditions on help for Britain’s unemployed was very difficult
to justify. Alongside this, his outspoken support for Edward VIII during the Abdication crisis put him outside the
consensus of his own party and Britain’s establishment.
Churchill’s style
Aside from his policies, Churchill’s style seemed out of touch. His way of speaking seemed old-fashioned and
contrasted with that of both Baldwin and Chamberlain, who had a more modern way of speaking to the electorate.
He also did not have a strong following in the Conservative Party and surrounded himself with other “outsiders”.
, India and the Abdication
What were the problems in India?
In India there were widespread calls for independence from Britain, especially after British troops had fired on a
crowd at Amritsar in 1919. Growing nationalist agitation was led by the Congress Party, and a non-violent but
powerful civil disobedience campaign was led by Gandhi. Reliance on repression to govern Indisa gave Britain a poor
international reputation and risked alienating the support for British rule among many of the richer and more
privileged Indians.
The Government in Britain made conciliatory moves. In 1930 and 1931 Gandhi attended talks in London (to which
Churchill infamously said: "It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr. Gandhi, an Inner Temple lawyer, now
become a seditious fakir of a type well known in the East, striding half-naked up the steps of the Viceregal Palace,
while he is still organizing and conducting a defiant campaign of civil disobedience, to parley on equal terms with the
representative of the King-Emperor."). This was followed up by the passing of the Government of India Act in 1935
which set up elected legislatures and increased the electorate.
Why did Churchill oppose British policy?
He loved the Raj and had served in the army in India as a young man
He objected to any concessions to popular protest and threats to lawful authority
He thought that Gandhi and Indian nationalism would be content only with full independence, so
concessions were a waste of time.
He thought that independence would lead to disastrous conflicts between Muslims and Hindus and put
power in the hands of India’s most powerful caste-the Brahmins.
He believed in the superiority of the white race and its density to rule
He saw British power in Europe and the world as dependent on its continuing control of its Empire.
What were the consequences?
Some of Churchill’s friends and supporters found some of his views on India too extreme. He had aligned
himself with extreme and old-fashioned imperialists and cut himself off from mainstream Conservative Party
opinion. This alienated Prime Ministers Baldwin and Chamberlain, who did not trust him to be in
government.
The Abdication
A stable monarchy was important as it helped Britain’s reputation abroad and the monarchy had been a vital
element in encouraging patriotism and sacrifice during the First World War. When Edward VIII succeeded to the
throne in 1936, he wanted to marry Mrs Wallis Simpson, this threatened stability because:
Marrying an American who had been twice divorced would have been difficult for the British public to accept
at a time when divorce still bore a stigma.
The Archbishop of Canterbury was concerned about marrying a divorce in which she was simply the royal
consort rather than Queen.
The cabinet did not give its approval for the marriage therefore if Edward had married Mrs Simpson, the
Government would have had to resign, plunging G.B. into political chaos.
Why did Churchill support the King?
Churchill joined a small group of ‘King’s friends’ and supported Edward because:
Churchill had a sincere devotion to hereditary monarchy and saw it as his duty to support the rightful king.
He spoke of his friendship with the King when he had been Prince of Wales
He was potentially unsympathetic to those ‘respectable’ members of the establishment who seemed to be
opposed to the King finding happiness.
He was an emotional person and was moved by the royal love story.
What were the consequences?
As with India, Churchill was at odds with his party and its leadership and was within the minority view again.
He seemed oblivious to public opinion and appeared old-fashioned and eccentric.
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