The spectre of Winston Churchill
The great wartime leader continues to haunt British politics and identity.
ByWinston Churchill
Winston Churchill was a statesman, writer and the prime minister who led the United Kingdom to victory in the Second World War. He served as Conservative prime minister twice, from 1940 to 1945 (when he was defeated in the general election by the Labour leader Clement Attlee) and from 1951 to 1955. In his long political career beginning in 1901 Churchill, born in 1874, was for a time a Liberal MP and served as chancellor, home secretary and secretary of state for war. Find pieces from the archive, comment and analysis related to Churchill here.
Diplomacy in a time of disorder
After the ruin of war, Britain helped build Europe’s institutions. In an unstable world, they are once again vital for…
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Keir Starmer is the consummate late bloomer
His maturity is an antidote to the recent fashion for youthful politicians.
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How to reform the House of Lords
Also this week: finding peace in weekly Mass, and what Winston Churchill knew.
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Churchill and the quest for greatness
Throughout his career, Britain’s wartime prime minister studied how other leaders – Roosevelt, Attlee, Stalin and Gandhi – exercised power.
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The month of two D-Days
History will record this deed as an achievement of the highest order.
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We shouldn’t demonise Winston Churchill – or deify him
The point of history is to see people and situations in the round rather than to succumb to satisfying myths.
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In 2019 Boris Johnson had everything he wanted. But the gods were waiting for him
The Prime Minister has left Britain unserious, divided and in need of complete transformation.
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From the NS archive: Should we hang Mr Churchill or not?
22 May 1926: The General Strike need not have happened, but a group of hard-line Conservatives made sure it did.
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From the NS archive: Thirteen years soft
16 October 1964: This government was a shambles such as has rarely, if ever, existed before.
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How Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech has been misunderstood
In his address at Fulton, Missouri, 75 years ago, Churchill played up the Soviet threat to bolster the case for…
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Attlee and Churchill: leaders united through war
Winston Churchill said Clement Attlee was a modest man who had much to be modest about. But they worked together…
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How Winston Churchill used his storytelling skills to shape his country’s history
Fake news, disinformation, propaganda – call it what you will – the dissemination of untruths and half-truths is part of the…
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Paul Johnson’s 90th birthday, health tips for Churchill and swapping jigsaws with Attlee
Paul’s memories are amazing, if erratic. He instantly recalls the first Catholic lord mayor, exchanges with several US presidents (Reagan:…
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BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week, Churchill’s Passions, is full of powerful images, and sounds fantastic
Over five days, the historian Andrew Roberts condenses some of his new book’s 1,152 pages into five essays that he…
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What can Brexit Britain learn from Winston Churchill?
As the popularity of Dunkirk and Darkest Hour show, we remain entranced by the story of Britain’s heroic resistance to…
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The errors and omissions of Winston Churchill film Darkest Hour
The movie looks terrific and has an air of authenticity, yet it plays fast and loose with the truth.
By Six Minutes in May brings the story of Winston Churchill to life
Nicholas Shakespeare manages to evoke tension in an old tale by understanding its human drama.
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The guilty men of Brexit, Churchill, Boris Johnson, and the “bullseye of disaster”
The xenophobia during the EU referendum campaign was loathsome.
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What Winston Churchill and George Orwell had in common
A new book from Thomas E Ricks explores the similarities between two 20th century mavericks.
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