CHURCHILL’S POLITICS Tuesdays 1.00-2.30 pm. Fall 2021. Midcoast Senior College Robert Bunselmeyer
[email protected] Winston Churchill was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, famously and heroically from 1940 to 1945 and of less conseQuence from 1951 to 1955. We know him mainly as a wartime leader, but prior to that, and more fundamentally, he was a party politician and a Member of the House of Commons. He occasionally referred to himself as a “child of the House of Commons.” He finished his career as a Conservative, but for an important part of his younger years was a Liberal. Just as important, perhaps, he was freQuently a “loose cannon,” obedient to the party leadership when he could be, but outspoken on issues of the day regardless of party platforms. How this unpredictable man became a Cabinet minister and then Prime Minister will be one of our themes. We will read and discuss Churchill’s political life from 1874 to 1945 as narrated by Roy Jenkins in his biography of Churchill published in 2001. Roy Jenkins (1920-2003) was himself a Cabinet level officer in several Labour governments, and he wrote about the inner workings of party politics with a sure touch. Also, while our main focus will be on Churchill, I will comment on the overall political scene as background to our discussion of Churchill’s role and actions. MEETINGS AND TOPICS 1. September 14. An introduction to British political history. A constitutional monarchy. Expansion of the franchise in national elections, the reforms of 1832, 1867, 1884, 1918, and 1828.