Winston Churchill was a the member of parliament for the constituency of Dundee for 14 years from 1908 to 1922. As the Liberal Party candidate, he was first elected at a by-election in May 1908, having lost at Manchester North West just weeks earlier. Churchill had hoped Dundee would be his “seat for life” and was reelected four times before going down to defeat at the 1922 general election. Churchill’s tenure as the member of parliament for Dundee is recounted in the excellent Cheers, Mr Churchill! Winston in Scotland by Andrew Liddle.
In his book, Liddle describes the six elections Churchill stood in at Dundee, his service as the city’s member of parliament, the positions he adopted on such issues as Home Rule, and the background of his political opponents, Edwin Scrymgeour of the Scottish Prohibition Party and Labour’s E. D. Morel, who unseated him in 1922 in the dual member constituency. Liddle also refutes some of the myths about Churchill and Scotland, including that he sent tanks into Glasgow in 1919 to crush strikers.
Liddle makes the case that Churchill was not a good constituency member of parliament or very attentive to local issues. As a prominent cabinet minister and leading national politician, he had neither the time nor interest for many local concerns. Additionally, he “simply had no interest in the sort of mundane constituency engagements that involve gladhanding prominent city figures or opening new buildings.” With the distance from Westminster and his busy schedule, Churchill rarely came to the city, usually visiting once or twice a year plus at elections. As such, he relied heavily on his local political supporters, most especially Dundee Liberal Association chairman George Ritchie, to maintain his standing in Dundee and counter the perception that he was aloof to local matters. While Liddle demolishes the myth that Churchill’s supposed last words to the city were “the grass would grow green through its cobbled streets, and the vigour of its industry will shrink and decay” – he never said it – it is true that after his defeat Churchill never visited the city again. In 1943 he rejected, to ensuing local controversy, an invitation to receive the Freedom of the City after the city council voted by only a one vote margin (16 in favour, 15 against) to make the invitation in the first place.
With research into local newspapers and the archives of his political opponents in Dundee, Cheers, Mr Churchill! provides a new perspective on Churchill’s political career, a difficult accomplishment given the hundreds of books published on the subject. It is a balanced and insightful study. Readers will learn something new about Churchill from this engaging book.