Part One in this series of Entries covered Churchill as Historian, Writer and Artist. This Entry will cover Churchill's political life.

Politician

In 1900, Churchill stood as a Conservative Member of Parliament in Oldham, Lancashire, England. He worked with the Conservative Party for four years, but broke away from them in 1904 to join the Liberal Party who were against protectionism. On achieving victory in 1905, the Liberal Party made him undersecretary at the Colonial Office. Three years later he achieved the position of president of the Board of Trade and set about creating labour exchanges and unemployment insurance. In 1910, he became Home Secretary and put an end to children working in mines and improved miners' safety. A year later he held the position of First Lord of the Admiralty. However, just a few months into the First World War, he was blamed for the Dardanelles Campaign going wrong and demoted to the position of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster leading him to resign. He signed up with the army and fought on the Western Front. Then he returned to government in 1917 as Minister of Munitions and rose to the position of state secretary for war and air and colonial secretary. During his service in munitions he was involved in developing the tank.

In an election in 1922 Churchill was defeated and further alienated himself by embarking on his third military expedition. He left parliament in 1922 and returned two years later on the Conservative side. During his time out of office Churchill wrote six volumes that are collectively known as The World Crisis. Herbert Reed a poet and critic showed his disapproval of Churchill's works in his own novel English Prose Style. Churchill returned to parliament as the Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1924 and held the position until 1929. Finding himself out of office again, Churchill spent his days working on a four part biography called Marlborough: His Life and Times.

Wilderness Years

However, he fell out with the party again after supporting Edward VIII and opposing Indian Self Rule. Now unpopular, his efforts to make his fellow colleagues and rivals aware of the threat of Nazi Germany and the need for rearmament fell on deaf ears. However, Churchill's service to the country through the army, opposition to Neville Chamberlain's offer of appeasement and position of First Lord Admiralty given to him in 1939 had not gone unnoticed. Thus when Chamberlain stood down as Prime Minister the obvious choice to be elected was Churchill. And so on 10 May, 1940, he took over the position of Prime Minister from Neville Chamberlain and began forming good relationships with Russia and America.

Far be it from me to paint a rosy picture of the future. Indeed, I do not think we should be justified in using any but the most sombre tones and colours while our people, our Empire and indeed the whole English-speaking world are passing through a dark and deadly valley. But I should be failing in my duty if, on the other wise, I were not to convey the true impression, that a great nation is getting into its war stride.
- Churchill's speech to the House of Commons on 22 January, 1941

After the war Churchill lost out in a 1945 election to the opposing party. However, he made people aware of the Cold War brought about the term 'Iron Curtain' and made people aware of the desire to unite Europe with trans-Atlantic countries. In 1951, he won another election and became Prime minister for the second time. He remained in the post for five years, before his health deteriorated so much he felt he had to resign. It was during this time that he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature and was awarded a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II. He also obtained other awards later in life and became an Honorary Citizen of America under President Kennedy's leadership.