CHURCHILL ON THE POLITICAL SEE-SAW

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31097, 28 June 1966, Page 8

CHURCHILL ON THE POLITICAL SEE-SAW

THF OI i 0 11W fe 11 Sw I BEAVERBROOK LETTERS

(By

KENNETH YOUNG)

PHURCHILL temporarily withdrew from politics and comamnded a battalion in France. But in March, 1916, it was clear that there were rumblings of discontent within Mr Asquith’s ramshackle Coalition.

Aitken wrote to Churchill suggesting that he should come home and take his place again in the House of Commons. Soon, he said, there would be changes in the political lay-out; Churchill ought to be in London to seize the advantage when it offered. Churchill returned to Britain in May, 1916, for good. Lloyd George became Premier and speedily set about forming his new Government, Law and Balfour were quickly placed.

But what of Churchill? Did he not merit some place in the new Government under David Lloyd George? He did, indeed, and Aitken was well aware of it. But he found few to agree. Almost to a man, Lloyd George’s new Tory allies were against being associated with Churchill.

Once more we find ourselves at F. E. Smith's house, now in Wilton street, near Victoria station, in the then charmed area known as Belgravia. It was the night that Lloyd George was forming his Cabinet Churchill was one of Smith’s guests; Aitken was another. Aitken had seen Lloyd George earlier in the evening and knew that the Prime Min-

ister did not yet feel himself strong enough against his Tory colleagues to give Churchill a post. Aitken carried this fell news in his bosom and scarcely knew how to broach it, or whether indeed he should do so. At dinner, Churchill, entirely oblivious of his fate, was speculating on what office Lloyd George would offer him. He would not take

X but he might consider Y. There would, of course, be a post for his friend Max Aitken, something suitable to his talents, say, fbr instance, Postmaster-General. Oh, it would be a first-class Administration. They would' see the war through—and quickly. Afterwards. . . . At this point Aitken dropped his hint: there might be nothing, not even the Post-master-Generalship, coming to Churchill. FOr a moment, Churchill's grandiose sotiloquy rolled on. Then the signifiance of the hint Aitken had dropped got through to him. There was an explosion. "Churchill suddenly felt he had been duped by his invita-

tion to dinner, and he blazed into righteous anger. He said suddenly, "Smith, this man knows I aim not to be included in the new Government’.” There followed what Aitken described —this part of his account has not been published before—as an “almost ludicrous” scene:

“Churchill changed from complete optimism to violent anger and depression. He abused me most violently, and when I got tired of it and replied in kind he picked up his hat and coat and, without even putting them on, dashed into the street Smith ran out after him and tried to calm him, but in vain—a curious end to the day." No Rancour But, as Aitken observed later, Churchill had no rancour in him. He realised that he had acted foolishly in attacking Aitken, the bearer of bad news, but not the cause. Next morning, Aitken wrote: "Churchill called me bright and early on the telephone. He wanted to apologise for the abuse he had given me the night before. It was really quite unnecessary on his part. It is impossible to feel hurt at anything Churchill says in this vein, for he is always so willing to take as good as he gives, and makes no complaint about the coun-ter-bloW. Had either of us known it, he was in a position to laugh at me on the subject of our overnight conversation.”

The reason was that Aitken himself, though instrumental in securing the Premiership for Lloyd George, had himself received no reward. His name did not appear on the new Government list All the new Prime Minister offered him was a peerage and this partly because his seat in the House of Commons was required for someone else. For a number of complicated reasons Aitken decided to accept the offer, taking the name of Beaverbrook. He was to regret it for the rest of his life. Russian Campaign Churchill's evening of disappointment had taught Beaverbrook much about him. He had never had the rough edge of his tongue before. He had replied in similar vein—and it had resulted in no breach in their relations; it even perhaps brought them cSoser together. Near the end of the war Churchill returned to office as Minister of Munitions; and in Lloyd George’s Coalition

Government immediately after the war he was Secretary for War and Air. Beaverbrook visited him in his office in Whitehall and found him well content.

He strode up and down the room “tingling with vitality” full of new ideas and shooting them out in the staccato style of a machine-gun. But as soon as Beaverbrook broached the subject of his visit his manner changed. He had come to warn Churchill that the offensive against the Bolsheviks in Russia involving many thousands of British troops was beginning to anger the public in Britain who, after four years of war, longed for peace almost at any price. The press too, he told Churchill, was beginning to be very critical. What, he wished to know, was Churchill's point of view? Explosion The Secretary of State for War exploded with rage. He would not listen to such talk and he would certainly not deign to justify, military operations against the Bolsheviks if that was what Beaverbrook’s question meant.

He was, Beaverbrook noted, “puffed up with office . . .arrogant beyond belief.” As for the press, he thundered, it must be squared: if he could not square it he must squash it. “So as ever,” Beaverbrook confided to an aide-memoire, “he marches on to defeats of his own making.” Has remark about the press angered Beaverbrook, by this time in full control of the “Daily Express” (he had also just founded the “Sunday Express”). Immediately he turned on the heat in his newspapers against British entanglement in the internal affairs of Russia. A considerable coolness fell upon the relations between Beaverbrook and Churchill. It showed itself in small ways. When Beaverbrook sought to enlist Churchill’s aid to procure a knighthood for a leading Canadian surgeon who had served with the Army Medical Corps, Churchill at first did not reply and then sought to put him off. When Beaverbrook returned to the charge, there was silence.

For many months they did not meet. Churchill was fully occupied at the War Office; Beaverbrook was building his newspapers.

But friends of both regretted the breach in their relations. Two young people. Duff Cooper and his wife, Diana Manners, the daughter of Lady Rutland, sought to bring them together again, and arranged a dinner party at which both were. present.

“I several times feared disaster,” wrote Duff Cooper later, “but it was always

avoided. They ended perfectly good friends.” In July 1921, Beaverbrook sent him a present, the first of a few. Churchill replied:—

"How vy kind of you to send me this find copy of the Dictionary of National Biography. It has received an honoured place in my library. It is not merely a valuable addition, but an essential feature. I am vy clad indeed to have it But believe me dear Max, I value much more the spirit of regard of which it is the token. I think our friendship is not only very pleasant but fruitful both in council and in action. "I never forgot the encouragement and help you gave me in ISIS when I had such distracting political personal issues to cope with." The coalition ended in 1922, and Churchill lost his seat in Dundee, where he had stood ag a National Liberal. His sympathies with the Liberals were declining. He was a man without a seat and without a party. In 1924. he allowed himself to be put up by Beaverbrook for the Abbey Division of Westminster as a “Constitutionalist” His programme Included (for the first and last time) Imperial Preference and "Conservative Social Reform.” He failed, but only by 48 votes. At the end of 1924 there was another General Election, and this time, at last, the Tories supported Churchill. He was elected for Epping with a thumping majority.

Advice Sought What was to happen to Churchill, still to many Tories the renegade? Endlessly he talked to Beaverbrook: would he be offered office? If so, would it be so small as to make it inadvisable to take it? Or would he be offered nothing at all? Churchill himself inclined to think that some small office would be proffered—or none. If he was left out of Baldwin’s Ministry what line ought he to take? He sought Beaverbrook’s view and Beaverbrook promised him that in such an event he would continue to give him support. Churchill was in fact told by a number of Baldwinite Tories that he would not get office, at least for the time being. For what followed, Beaverbrook’s own unpublished account is the best and the most dramatic. “During the hours of waiting while the Prime Minister was naturally expected to be interviewing, first of all his old colleagues or prominent Conservative leaders, Churchill set out voluntarily for a seclusion in the country. “Churchill Up” “On his way out of town he stopped several hours with me at Fulham and the sole subject was his prospects. He was nervous, by no means optimistic, and assumed as a matter of course my continued assistance in the event of the worst, that is, his being left out altogether. He was that charming person which I call ‘Churchill Down.’

“His last words to me on parting were to this effect—unless he was offered such a first-rate post that hesitation would be absurd, he would not accept anything at all without consulting me first—and with this he departed to the country. “On the day that the big Cabinet appointments were setled, it so happened that I was giving a dinner party, arranged long before anyone could have had any notice that this would be a day of fate. The guests were Churchill and Birkenhead and Freddie Guest. All the day had been agog with Cabinet making. Winston was the first guest to arrive. ‘Well,’ I said, ‘are you in?’ Meaning, of course, have you really got something worth while. ‘Oh yes, I’m in all right’—with satisfaction! ‘What have you got?’ ‘I am sorry,’ replied Churchill, ‘but I would prefer not to disclose that just now.’ “This is what I call ‘Churchill Up.’

press”—l won’t hear It’ After this I simply turned them both out of the room in order that Churchill might tell Birkenhead that he was Chancellor of the Exchequer—which he did. “Dinner was perhaps not very happy. Churchill kept on persisting that he would tell me his news, and I kept on refusing. Finally I could hold out no longer even against ‘Winston Up.’ * “T am Chancellor of the Exchequer,’ he cried out. I replied: ‘You have told me against my will—and if I hear it from any other source but you tonight I shall publish it’ Promise “Soon afterwards I was called to the telephone by another member of the new Cabinet, who first of all told me of his own appointment and then added—“ Have you heard—Churchill is Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home is done down?’ “I returned to the table with the news that I now intended to publish—and finally yielding to Churchill’s solicitations did not send it to the Daily Express. "I amused myself, however, by drawing a rather highlycoloured picture of the row which would ensue over the passing over of Sir Robert Home, who had very good reasons to suppose—though not from the Prime Minister —that he was sure of the Exchequer. Churchill then became anxious and inquiring for a moment—a brief reversion to ’Churchill Down’—but this did not last long and he pleaded with me not to ‘spoil his hour of triumph.’ “Then came the parting scene—the climax of the evening’s drama. Birkenhead renewed his upbraidings of Churchill's conduct in refusing me the original information as to the Chancellorship. He pictured Churchill clinging to me, seeking and accepting my support and then throwing me over In the hour of victory. “Suddenly a kind of flash of intuition came to me and I made a wild but shrewd guess. •I don’t believe Churchill Is really to blame. He promised somebody he wouldn't tell me before he came—yes—he promised hi# wife.* Churchill said: *You are right She drove me to the door of your house.’ (To Be Continued) This series is adapted from the book "Churchill and Beaverbrook: A study in friendship and politics." Lord Beaverbrook’s letters are copyright The Beaverbrook Foundation 1966 Sir Winston Churchill’s letters are copyright C. and T. Publications, Ltd., 1966.

Threat To Publish “Immediately on this entered Birkenhead, to whom I put the same questions. He answered at once: ‘l’m Secretary of State for India—just what I wanted.’ Then, turning to Churchil—‘What have you got?’ “ No,’ I interposed, ‘Churchill prefers not to disclose that in front of me—no doubt he will tell you privately later as a colleague.’ “Birkenhead broke out on Churchill at this, saying that his conduct was perfectlyridiculous. ‘You’ve been consulting with Max for weeks past in the most intimate way —you’ve been taking his help and advice and support. You were ready enough to appeal to him in your despair, and now you neglect him in your hour of triumph.’ I don’t profess to report Birkenhead’s exact words, but this was the gist of his argument. “Churchill was rather abashed and said: "Well, I will tell you.’ I said. ‘No. no—if you. tell me I will publish it tomorrow in the “Daily Ex-