#LOST MASTERPIECE OF WINSTON CHURCHILL HOW TO#

To many, a Labour government seemed to hold out the best prospects. Most soldiers in the field were fed up with the war and looked forward to a new age of prosperous normalcy.

#LOST MASTERPIECE OF WINSTON CHURCHILL HOW TO#

But after six devastating years of war, voters were more interested in how to bring about a bright future than to dwell upon the past. The Conservative program was much more vague, and focused on Churchill’s leadership. The progressive reforms proposed by Labour were highly popular. The six-week election campaign in May-July 1945 largely focused on the future of the country. There were three reasons for the loss he and his party experienced: 1. When the debate shifted to the people’s needs at home, he once reflected, “I have no message for them.” Churchill’s own focus had been international-on “building the peace” as he called it. Although his party had conceived of a National Health Service and a vast housebuilding program, it lacked the sweeping fervor of the socialist reformers. Until the last few days before the vote was held, Churchill and much of the country had been firmly convinced that he and his party would be returned to power with a decent majority. Abroad, rapid decolonization quickly led to the dissolution of the British Empire. At home it created a new social-economic consensus that lasted until Margaret Thatcher’s victory in 1979. The Labour government of 1945 would radically change British society. Yet, this mild-mannered socialist who looked like a neighborhood bank clerk would now set the course of British politics. “Indeed,” Churchill quipped, “he has much to be modest about.” “He struck me as a modest man,” President Truman would tell Churchill a few months later. Personally, Attlee expressed little crowing or exultation. Labour held a massive majority of 145 seats out of 640 in the new 1945 Parliament. To this day it stands as the largest swing in British postwar politics.Ĭhurchill’s immense personal popularity saw him easily reelected in his Woodford constituency, but his party was crushed. The electoral swing from the Tory to Labour was 10.7% from the previous election. The Labor Party received 47.7% of the vote compared to the Conservatives’ 36.2% and the Liberal Party’s 9%. I heard it on the Six o’Clock News.” A watershed election In the audience room, an uncomfortable silence reigned until Attlee finally spoke up: “I’ve won the election.” The King replied, “I know. The King was distressed at the fall of Churchill, whom he had grown to trust and respect. Chauffeured by his wife in their modest little Austin, Clement Attlee arrived at the Palace within minutes of Churchill’s departure to be appointed the new Prime Minister. As soon as the election result was announced, Churchill went to Buckingham Palace to submit his resignation to King George VI. Soviet dictator Stalin assumed that Churchill would “fix” the election result and was astounded when he lost. The meeting was interrupted so that they could go home, wait for the outcome, and form a new government. Churchill courteously invited Labour leader Clement Attlee to the “Big Three” conference in Potsdam.

Polling day was 5 July 1945, but ballot counting was delayed until the 26th to count votes from soldiers abroad. They left the national government after victory in Europe, sparking an election. Churchill wanted to maintain the wartime coalition until the defeat of Japan, but, the Labour Party demurred. No election had taken place during the war, the last general election was in 1935. In 1945 it seemed a foregone conclusion that Churchill and his Conservative Party would win the general election. This is why governments in western countries change so frequently-and why autocrats avoid having to hold fair elections. Victory means addressing the genuine concerns and anxieties of voters. They are mostly won on a persuasive and realizable program for the contested period of office. Yet three months later, he suffered a humiliating election defeat.Ĭhurchill ‘s electoral fate demonstrates that democratic elections are not won on past achievements and personal glory and celebrity status. He was feted and celebrated everywhere he went and had an approval rating of 83%. The end of World War II in 1945 turned Winston Churchill into the world’s most eminent statesman.

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