When was churchill voted out of office

October 10, November 14, I agree with you. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Loading Comments Email Required Name Required Website. He had worked with the young Beveridge in introducing labour exchanges, and the Beveridge Report itself could be construed as an extension of reforms that Churchill himself had introduced between and The Beveridge Report, therefore, presented the Prime Minister with a golden opportunity to reinvent himself as the leader of a party seriously concerned with social questions.

What was more, acceptance of the report was not the only option - the party could have decided to devise and publicise an alternative prospectus.

Churchill, however, completely missed the opportunity. Absorbed in the conduct of the war he was resentful of what he thought of as distractions, and especially of the raising of issues likely to cause disputes within the coalition. Besides, his radical days were far behind him, and he spoke of Beveridge in private as 'a windbag and a dreamer'. He therefore ruled that while preparations for social reform could be made in wartime, decisions must await the outcome of the first post-war general election.

The outcome was that the coalition government issued a series of White Papers on post-war policy, but put through very little legislation. It seems likely that the result of the general election could have been predicted long in advance. During the opening months of World War Two the opinion polls showed a Conservative lead.

But when polling was resumed in June , Labour were ahead of the Conservatives by 10 per cent. By February , the Labour lead was 18 per cent. Opinion polls, however, were a novelty which had yet to prove their value, and it was generally believed that Churchill the war hero would be unbeatable - as David Lloyd George had been in , following his leadership of the country through World War One. World War Two in Europe ended on 8 May On 23 May the parliamentary wartime coalition broke up, and Churchill returned at the head of a predominantly Conservative 'caretaker' government for the duration of the election campaign.

Polling took place on 5 July, but in order to allow time for the ballot boxes to be collected from servicemen overseas - by RAF Transport Command - the count did not begin until 25 July.

The Conservative campaign was built around the personality of Churchill, on whom there fell almost the entire responsibility of presenting the Conservative case. Here was a last opportunity to get across the message that the prime minister was not only a warlord, but also a constructive peacetime statesman. It was all the more important that he should do this, since the Labour Party was fighting a strong campaign, hammering home its policies on the nationalisation of industry, full employment, social security and the issue which, according to the opinion polls, was most important in the minds of voters - housing.

Churchill, however, decided that scare tactics would be more effective. In the opening broadcast of the campaign, on 4 June, he warned that the introduction of Socialism into Britain would require ' There is no evidence, however, to suggest that it cost Churchill many votes, still less that it cost him the election.

In a second broadcast he emphasised improvements in health and nutrition, and extolled the coalition government's plans for social insurance. But after this he reverted to negative tactics by exploiting the 'Laski affair'.

In a statesmanlike gesture, Churchill had invited Clement Attlee, leader of the Labour Party, to accompany him to the Potsdam Conference held to discuss international policy following the defeat of Germany , which was taking place at the same time as the British election campaign. He did this to ensure continuity in the event of a change of government half way through the conference. But the chairman of the Labour party's National Executive, Harold Laski, put out a statement declaring that Attlee's presence at Potsdam could not bind the party to any decisions reached there.

Churchill and Lord Beaverbrook - the newspaper owner and one-time minister in Churchill's cabinet - played on this embarassing rift for all it was worth, with allegations that the Labour Party was run by a sinister body, the National Executive, which claimed the right to dictate to Parliament.

It will take only 2 minutes to fill in. Cookies on GOV. UK We use some essential cookies to make this website work. Accept additional cookies Reject additional cookies View cookies. Hide this message. Skip to main content. Home History of the UK Government. Churchill died in , and was honoured with a state funeral.

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