CHURCHILL WINSTON S.: (1874-1965)

CHURCHILL WINSTON S.: (1874-1965)

Just two days after his investiture by Queen Elizabeth II as a Knight of the Garter, Churchill reflects on his political career –

 ‘The only reason I ever went into politics was to get things done in the way I thought was right’

 

CHURCHILL WINSTON S.: (1874-1965) British Prime Minister 1940-45, 1951-55. Nobel Prize winner for Literature, 1953. A remarkable, historic Autograph Statement signed by Churchill, with his initials W S C, to the recto of an official small 8vo British Government manila envelope (the verso bearing the printed Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom), n.p. (10 Downing Street?), 16^th June 1954 ('1.15 a.m.'). In dark fountain pen ink Churchill writes, in full, 'The only reason I ever went into politics was to get things done in the way I thought was right. I have never had any other ambition than to prevent things being done in a way I did not like. But it is often harder to get things done in ones own way'. Signed and dated at the foot. A wonderful and extremely rare autobiographical statement signed by Churchill, apparently unpublished, and penned at an interesting point in the twilight of his great political career. Some very light, extremely minor creasing, VG

 

Although knighted as Sir Winston on 24^th April 1953, Churchill's investiture by Queen Elizabeth II as a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter did not take place until 14^th June 1954, just two days prior to writing the present statement. Churchill was invested with his insignia in the Throne Room of Windsor Castle and later attended a service held in St. George's Chapel at Windsor. The Most Noble Order of the Garter, Britain's most senior order of knighthood, is awarded at the sole discretion of the Sovereign and membership is limited to no more than 24 living members. King George VI had initially offered Churchill the Order of the Garter after losing the General Election of July 1945, although Churchill declined, feeling that the time was not right for honours and rewards. The offer was renewed by Queen Elizabeth II, and, late into his second and final term as Prime Minister, Churchill accepted.

 

On 16^th June 1954, the very day that Churchill signed the present statement, the Prime Minister and his Defence Ministers conducted a top-secret meeting of the Defence Policy Committee in which it was agreed to go ahead with the production of the British hydrogen bomb. The decision would not be formally communicated to the full British Government Cabinet until their next meeting on 22nd June. Churchill wrote privately to American President Dwight Eisenhower requesting a 'better sharing of information and also perhaps of resources in the thermonuclear sphere' and would later brief the President on the H-bomb decision at a meeting in Washington on 25^th June, during the third and last of Churchill's visits to the United States during his second premiership.

 

In the context of the present statement, in which Churchill states 'it is often harder to get things done in ones own way', it should be remembered that in the days leading up to the Prime Minister's transatlantic trip, he and Anthony Eden, who had not always enjoyed the smoothest of relationships, disagreed over whether Churchill should consult Washington on the terms of the proposed British withdrawal from Egypt. The Prime Minister favoured delaying negotiations with Egypt until he had explored 'the extent to which the United States could be persuaded to support us….or even be associated with us….' Eden, the Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister, opposed Churchill's suggestion.

 

Considering all of the above and recognising that the Prime Minister was approaching his 80^th birthday, in declining health, and would resign less than a year later, Churchill's statement strikes a particularly strong chord as he reflects on his political career which had begun more than half a century earlier when he was elected as Member of Parliament for Oldham in 1900.

 

Provenance: From the estate of Peter Geoffrey Oates (1919-2007) British civil servant who worked in the Prime Minister's office at 10 Downing Street from 1951, firstly as private secretary to Attlee, and later to Winston S. Churchill. Oates described working with Churchill at Downing Street, Chequers and Chartwell as 'chaotic' and his obituary recalls that, as a private secretary, he had to endure long hours by day and night as Churchill worked in bed in the morning, had a long sleep in the afternoon, and worked after dinner until 3am or later.