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Too wisky and unpolite, my fwiend. A gentleman must be know by his actions.
Chapter 84, Chartwell, 5 September 1940
He sat like an enthroned Buddha, swirling a glass of cognac around in one hand whilst beating the time of the music with the other. Tears ran down his face as his voice boomed out the words he knew so well.
“When Wellington, thrashed Bonaparte,
As every child can tell,
The House of Peers threw out the war,
Did nothing in particular,
And did it very well!
Yet Britain set a world ablaze,
In good King George’s glorious days,
Yet Britain set a world ablaze,
In good King George’s glorious days!”
The chorus took up the song from the soloist, the music scratchy from repeated use. For the first time, Winston Churchill MP turned to his guest.
“Such a wonderful one, Iolanthe. Saw it once at the Savoy. Quite a storyline. Do you know it?”
“Yes, Winston, you know I do.”
“Don’t be impertinent. A wonderful story. The House of Lords are smitten with the fairies. Perhaps M’Lord Halifax is in love with a fairy.”
“It would explain a great deal, Winston.”
“You have read, I am guessing, his letter to me?”
“Mrs Churchill was kind enough to give me an idea of its content.”
“And?” The old man rose from his chair, glaring at his friend.
“It’s the best you can hope for.”
Churchill grunted as Brendan Bracken gratefully took a tin mug of incredibly hot tea from Sawyers, Churchill’s valet. Bracken looked at the tin mug with a mixture of amusement and disbelief.
The old man read his younger friend’s thoughts. “From the Cheshire Regiment. They gave it to me at Arras just before they stormed like heroes into the Nazi flanks.” Churchill stared at the tin mug, lost in reverie for a war that was already fading into memory.
“Winston,” Bracken chided him, trying to focus his mentor on the matter being debated, “you do need to give Halifax an answer, this letter is a week old already.”
“To accept, I would be seen as accepting everything, everything, that that man stands for!”
Bracken clenched a fist in frustration. “No, Winston, you wouldn’t. You can write to him, remind him of your opposition to him, and confirm that despite this he is offering you the job.”
“He wants rid of me! This is a facade for something else! He means to send me into exile, like Bonaparte!” Churchill jabbed a podgy finger at the cover of Iolanthe. “Far away across an ocean, where I can do no harm!”
Bracken finally snapped. “Of course he wants bloody rid of you! He knows that you would have tried to avoid signing that damned treaty, and he knows that you view his performance as Prime Minister with contempt! But the offer is still a good one! If you stay as you are the newspapers will continue to crucify everyone who advocates fighting the Germans. If Downing Street lets word of your refusal get out they’ll say you’re being selfish.”
“No,” Churchill was subdued, “for all his limited talents he is a man of his word.”
“Halifax yes, but Butler isn’t. And Anthony was quick to jump into bed with him.”
Churchill frowned at Bracken. Eden’s precarious course of disagreeing with Halifax whilst still serving in his cabinet had provoked a massive Churchillian tirade earlier that evening. “A letter?”
Bracken nodded. “A letter, Winston. Send him a letter stating your policies. Request a meeting if you like, you still haven’t accepted his invitation to dinner.”
And so Churchill picked up his pen, and drafted a letter to the Prime Minister.
“Prime Minister,
Edward, as you know, we have had our differences over the years. But none, perhaps, have been as marked as our views on Europe. I do not write to you as a sign of my acceptance of your treaty with Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy. I believe our pact with that man to be the most morally bankrupt act ever made by a civilised Christian power. I will not be swayed from this opposition, and I am grateful that you have not asked this of me.
But I must, now, thank you for the kind offer of an appointment within the Conservative Party, as we prepare for the looming ballot. Such an offer is the mark of a gentleman, something I know you to be.
I would be delighted to accept your offer to dine with you, made months ago in the maelstrom of war. Now, in the maelstrom of peace, shall we break bread together and dine as gentlemen and colleagues.”
Churchill signed the letter with a flourish. He fully anticipated a Halifax refusal, knowing that any such refusal would be politely worded and evasive in its reasoning. Churchill was beginning to feel the torment of exile, yearning for his days in the Admiralty. Some, like Eden, were prepared to comply with Halifax (though for Eden it was still a difficult position to maintain) in the hope that a unified Conservative Party would have a good chance of success in the election. Amery’s public support for the Prime Minister was further isolating Churchill; he smouldered when he thought about the election, as his own constituency committee was being particularly vindictive and had yet to really lend anything more than vague platitude in their endorsement of him as their candidate. Churchill felt what he would later call ‘the frigid chill of de-selection’. But, given a ray of hope in his exile, would fight for a cause few still believed in regardless of where he was.
[Game Effect] – Ah, Winston. Would a deeply un-Churchillian government offer him anything? Well, I think that Halifax has much to gain from at least offering Churchill a role in the Government. Though there were few areas where the two men actually agreed, I think a vague Halifax offer would have been made to bring in the anti-Milanites, demonstrating just how weak Halifax’s grip on the Party really is. I’ve been conscious of not wanting to ‘over-do’ Churchill, hence his non-appearance since the earlier chapters. But I think his role in a Halifax election campaign would be fascinating.
Brendan Bracken is of course an intriguing character. Ever the acolyte of Churchill, he is, I suppose, fulfilling a role similar to that of Butler with his master Halifax: the broker of deals and the sounding board for ideas. Halifax, for all his genuine wish to see the Conservative Party united, will not be offering Bracken a position of responsibility within his Government – the two men loathed each other.
Enewald: Well, not quite.
GeneralHannibal: As has often been mentioned, the Labour manifesto is a bit of a mess and I think that the need to pander to so many factions would cause trouble.
Morsky: I at one point thought about pushing out a Liberal manifesto, but to be frank found the whole thing tedious. The Liberals might do well, but I doubt that they would overtake either Labour or the Conservatives.
El Pip: The 1940 manifesto is largely based on that of ’35, as I really don’t think Labour had changed all that much. Neither side has entered this election fully happy at it’s position, and I think whoever wins, both parties will need to look at their policies for future ballots.
TheExecuter: Indeed, and the Labour Party manifesto is a myriad of contradictions.
DonnieBaseball: A fair point – if you look at the Labour governments postwar they all seem to have variations of ‘fiddling whilst Rome burns’ despite their desire to ‘plan’ the economy.
Sir Humphrey::rofl:
Trekaddict: Noooooooooo!
Kurt_Steiner: Indeed, and Halifax has been ridiculously uninvolved in this election campaign.
He sat like an enthroned Buddha, swirling a glass of cognac around in one hand whilst beating the time of the music with the other. Tears ran down his face as his voice boomed out the words he knew so well.
“When Wellington, thrashed Bonaparte,
As every child can tell,
The House of Peers threw out the war,
Did nothing in particular,
And did it very well!
Yet Britain set a world ablaze,
In good King George’s glorious days,
Yet Britain set a world ablaze,
In good King George’s glorious days!”
The chorus took up the song from the soloist, the music scratchy from repeated use. For the first time, Winston Churchill MP turned to his guest.
“Such a wonderful one, Iolanthe. Saw it once at the Savoy. Quite a storyline. Do you know it?”
“Yes, Winston, you know I do.”
“Don’t be impertinent. A wonderful story. The House of Lords are smitten with the fairies. Perhaps M’Lord Halifax is in love with a fairy.”
“It would explain a great deal, Winston.”
“You have read, I am guessing, his letter to me?”
“Mrs Churchill was kind enough to give me an idea of its content.”
“And?” The old man rose from his chair, glaring at his friend.
“It’s the best you can hope for.”
Churchill grunted as Brendan Bracken gratefully took a tin mug of incredibly hot tea from Sawyers, Churchill’s valet. Bracken looked at the tin mug with a mixture of amusement and disbelief.
The old man read his younger friend’s thoughts. “From the Cheshire Regiment. They gave it to me at Arras just before they stormed like heroes into the Nazi flanks.” Churchill stared at the tin mug, lost in reverie for a war that was already fading into memory.
“Winston,” Bracken chided him, trying to focus his mentor on the matter being debated, “you do need to give Halifax an answer, this letter is a week old already.”
“To accept, I would be seen as accepting everything, everything, that that man stands for!”
Bracken clenched a fist in frustration. “No, Winston, you wouldn’t. You can write to him, remind him of your opposition to him, and confirm that despite this he is offering you the job.”
“He wants rid of me! This is a facade for something else! He means to send me into exile, like Bonaparte!” Churchill jabbed a podgy finger at the cover of Iolanthe. “Far away across an ocean, where I can do no harm!”
Bracken finally snapped. “Of course he wants bloody rid of you! He knows that you would have tried to avoid signing that damned treaty, and he knows that you view his performance as Prime Minister with contempt! But the offer is still a good one! If you stay as you are the newspapers will continue to crucify everyone who advocates fighting the Germans. If Downing Street lets word of your refusal get out they’ll say you’re being selfish.”
“No,” Churchill was subdued, “for all his limited talents he is a man of his word.”
“Halifax yes, but Butler isn’t. And Anthony was quick to jump into bed with him.”
Churchill frowned at Bracken. Eden’s precarious course of disagreeing with Halifax whilst still serving in his cabinet had provoked a massive Churchillian tirade earlier that evening. “A letter?”
Bracken nodded. “A letter, Winston. Send him a letter stating your policies. Request a meeting if you like, you still haven’t accepted his invitation to dinner.”
And so Churchill picked up his pen, and drafted a letter to the Prime Minister.
“Prime Minister,
Edward, as you know, we have had our differences over the years. But none, perhaps, have been as marked as our views on Europe. I do not write to you as a sign of my acceptance of your treaty with Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy. I believe our pact with that man to be the most morally bankrupt act ever made by a civilised Christian power. I will not be swayed from this opposition, and I am grateful that you have not asked this of me.
But I must, now, thank you for the kind offer of an appointment within the Conservative Party, as we prepare for the looming ballot. Such an offer is the mark of a gentleman, something I know you to be.
I would be delighted to accept your offer to dine with you, made months ago in the maelstrom of war. Now, in the maelstrom of peace, shall we break bread together and dine as gentlemen and colleagues.”
Churchill signed the letter with a flourish. He fully anticipated a Halifax refusal, knowing that any such refusal would be politely worded and evasive in its reasoning. Churchill was beginning to feel the torment of exile, yearning for his days in the Admiralty. Some, like Eden, were prepared to comply with Halifax (though for Eden it was still a difficult position to maintain) in the hope that a unified Conservative Party would have a good chance of success in the election. Amery’s public support for the Prime Minister was further isolating Churchill; he smouldered when he thought about the election, as his own constituency committee was being particularly vindictive and had yet to really lend anything more than vague platitude in their endorsement of him as their candidate. Churchill felt what he would later call ‘the frigid chill of de-selection’. But, given a ray of hope in his exile, would fight for a cause few still believed in regardless of where he was.
[Game Effect] – Ah, Winston. Would a deeply un-Churchillian government offer him anything? Well, I think that Halifax has much to gain from at least offering Churchill a role in the Government. Though there were few areas where the two men actually agreed, I think a vague Halifax offer would have been made to bring in the anti-Milanites, demonstrating just how weak Halifax’s grip on the Party really is. I’ve been conscious of not wanting to ‘over-do’ Churchill, hence his non-appearance since the earlier chapters. But I think his role in a Halifax election campaign would be fascinating.
Brendan Bracken is of course an intriguing character. Ever the acolyte of Churchill, he is, I suppose, fulfilling a role similar to that of Butler with his master Halifax: the broker of deals and the sounding board for ideas. Halifax, for all his genuine wish to see the Conservative Party united, will not be offering Bracken a position of responsibility within his Government – the two men loathed each other.
Enewald: Well, not quite.
GeneralHannibal: As has often been mentioned, the Labour manifesto is a bit of a mess and I think that the need to pander to so many factions would cause trouble.
Morsky: I at one point thought about pushing out a Liberal manifesto, but to be frank found the whole thing tedious. The Liberals might do well, but I doubt that they would overtake either Labour or the Conservatives.
El Pip: The 1940 manifesto is largely based on that of ’35, as I really don’t think Labour had changed all that much. Neither side has entered this election fully happy at it’s position, and I think whoever wins, both parties will need to look at their policies for future ballots.
TheExecuter: Indeed, and the Labour Party manifesto is a myriad of contradictions.
DonnieBaseball: A fair point – if you look at the Labour governments postwar they all seem to have variations of ‘fiddling whilst Rome burns’ despite their desire to ‘plan’ the economy.
Sir Humphrey::rofl:
Trekaddict: Noooooooooo!
Kurt_Steiner: Indeed, and Halifax has been ridiculously uninvolved in this election campaign.
Mmmh I would have said that Winnie's reply would have been something like
"Over my dead cold body, you bastard!!!!"
"Over my dead cold body, you bastard!!!!"
Churchill knows Halifax will be evasive and polite because his own letter to Halifax is evasive and polite. It's the old (bigoted) British notions on Arab negotiations: they concluded that the Arabs assumed the British were always lying because the Arabs, when negotiating, were always themselves lying. Projection. Is that what Churchill is doing?
What? The fog, Enewald, the fog!
Or did you think it was a natural fog?
Blame Winnie's cigars for that! :rofl:
Interesting, could really go either way. Probably depends on how vulnerable Halifax feels and what compromises, if any, he's prepared to make to secure against Churchill's ability to make trouble.
Political mindgames a surpreme . Keep it up!
(Oh, and what about putting in a third party to vie for the seat of Prime Minister?)
. Keep it up!(Oh, and what about putting in a third party to vie for the seat of Prime Minister?)
Classic line. If Halifax wants to dispose of him, he should get pominant members of the party round a table at his estate, get up slowly, make the "everybody plays as a team" speech like Al Capone did and then proceed to bludgeon Churchill with a either a polo mallet or cricket bat.
Not bad Sir H, though I think I'd go the Charlie Brooker in the Italian Job technique. All Halifax needs to say is;
"It's a very difficult election and the only way to get through it is we all work together as a team. And that means you do everything I say."
Then if that fails call in a favour from Mr Bridger and get his boys to start stuffing ballot boxes.
"It's a very difficult election and the only way to get through it is we all work together as a team. And that means you do everything I say."
Then if that fails call in a favour from Mr Bridger and get his boys to start stuffing ballot boxes.
This has the air of the position Halifax was offered by Churchill to get him out of the way....Ambassador to the United States.
However, I doubt Churchill will accept such a position.
However, I doubt Churchill will accept such a position.
Well, having just spent two days catching up on this, I have to say that it is incredible. Bloody brilliant!
I know it was a while back, but your depiction of Mackenzie King was very accurate. You do a fantastic job portraying Canada's worst PM (bias, clearly). King was a wily politician, especially when it came to relations with the Empire. This will give him an opportunity to turn to the Americans...something he seemed quite eager to do in our timeline.
I know it was a while back, but your depiction of Mackenzie King was very accurate. You do a fantastic job portraying Canada's worst PM (bias, clearly). King was a wily politician, especially when it came to relations with the Empire. This will give him an opportunity to turn to the Americans...something he seemed quite eager to do in our timeline.
Considering he'd sell out his own mother for the slightest personal political gain at the first chance, I don't have much sympathy.
Indeed. Winnie Pooh was a ghastly reactionary bastard (vide gassing uncivilised tribes, his idea to machinegun the strikers in the 1920's, his praise of Hitler in "Great Contemporaries") whose only saving grace was finding himself in charge of Britain during the war and, well, not being Halifax. Damn good public speaker and writer, too, but then, so were some other people. It's what Atlee meant by pointing out the difference between Churchill the wartime leader and Churchill the peacetime politician.
Halifax really ought to send him into exile as ambassador somewhere. Like Sarawak, or Liberia. Show that gwandiloquent tub of lawd who weally contwols Bwitain and the Consewvative Pawty! In a vewy polite and unassuming mannew, of couwse.
Damn good public speaker and writer, too, but then, so were some other people. It's what Atlee meant by pointing out the difference between Churchill the wartime leader and Churchill the peacetime politician.Halifax really ought to send him into exile as ambassador somewhere. Like Sarawak, or Liberia.
Show that gwandiloquent tub of lawd who weally contwols Bwitain and the Consewvative Pawty! In a vewy polite and unassuming mannew, of couwse.
Trekaddict: Noooooooooo!
The prevention of which was a primary motivation for my own AAR.
Oh, come now. He was far from the only Britain to advocate any of those things, and his proposal to machinegun strikers, while the typical asshattishness of Churchill, isn't borne out by how he acted.
Churchill shot his mouth off all the time, sure. But I think the most telling speech of Churchill was his discussion in the aftermath of Armistar, in which he condemned the shootings by pointing out that "Frightfulness is not a remedy known to the British pharmacopoeia."And, of course, his rabid Anti-Communism in 1920 was justified.
And sure, he praised Hitler at some points, that makes him just like every other British leader in the period, and he stood up to Hitler earlier than the rest of the Conservatives.