There has been much outpouring of gushing praise to mark the life of Winston Churchill as we commemorate his death 50 years ago. But he was far from the paragon of virtue some would have us believe. His finest hour aside, let us not forget that he believed that women shouldn’t vote, telling the House of Commons that they are “well represented by their fathers, brothers, and husbands”. He was also fiercely opposed to self-determination for the people of the Empire, advocating the use of poison gas against “uncivilised tribes” in Mesopotamia in 1919. For much of his career he was also a disastrous politician. In 1915 he had to resign as First Lord of the Admiralty after the disaster of Gallipoli. His decision in 1925 to restore Britain to the Gold Standard caused a deep and unnecessary recession. That led directly to the General Strike in 1926, in which he was reported to have suggested using machine guns on the miners. While we must celebrate his role as a brilliant war leader, let us not forget another, rather more chequered past.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 10:58:06 +0000
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