How and why did Churchill become Prime Minister in 1940?

Britain – Churchill as Wartime Prime Minister, 1940-45

In this course, Mr Allen Packwood (Churchill Archives Centre) explores Churchill as a wartime Prime Minister. In the first lecture, we think about how and why Churchill became Prime Minister in 1940. In the second lecture, we think about Churchill’s style of wartime leadership. In the third lecture, we think about how Churchill’s wartime strategy changed throughout the Second World War. Next, we think about how the involvement of the Soviet Union and the United States in the Second World War impacted Churchill’s leadership. In the fifth and final lecture, we think about why Churchill lost the 1945 General Election.

How and why did Churchill become Prime Minister in 1940?

In this lecture, we think about how and why Churchill became Prime Minister in 1940, focusing in particular on: (i) Churchill’s commemoration around the UK in the form of statues, a museum, a University of Cambridge college, and his portrait on the five pound note; (ii) Churchill’s writing about becoming Prime Minister being his destiny, written in hindsight; (iii) Churchill’s position as First Lord of the Admiralty from September 1939 to May 1940, a return to the position he had held from October 1911 to May 1915; (iv) Churchill’s criticism of Hitler and appeasement being a key reason for his return to Cabinet in 1939; (v) Churchill’s controversial actions and quotes during his years in office since 1908; (vi) Churchill’s calls for rearmament and their support from much of the press and public, despite being viewed by some as a tactic to undermine Prime Ministers Baldwin and Chamberlain; (vii) Churchill’s defection to the Liberal Party from the Conservatives in 1904, returning to the Conservative Party in 1925; (viii) Edmund Ironside and John ‘Jock’ Colville’s criticisms of Churchill as Prime Minister; (ix) the failure of the Battles of Narvik from 9 April to 8 June 1940, which acted as a catalyst for Chamberlain’s replacement by Churchill; (x) the comparison between Churchill’s defence of the failed Battles of Narvik in 1940 and his attempted defence of the failed Gallipoli Campaign, which lost him his position of First Lord of the Admiralty, in 1915; (xi) Churchill’s avoidance of severe criticism after the Battles of Narvik being somewhat attributed to the focus of critics like Roger Keyes and Leo Amery being on Chamberlain, rather than on him; (xii) Edward Wood, 1st Lord of Halifax and Foreign Secretary from 1938-40, as the preferred replacement for Chamberlain by many Conservatives, King George VI, and Neville Chamberlain himself; (xiii) the decision to appoint Churchill as Prime Minister in a meeting on 9 May 1940, when Lord Halifax withdrew from the running; (xiv) Churchill’s required inclusion of both Chamberlain and Halifax in his war cabinet; (xv) the early weeks of Churchill’s premiership being marked by the Nazi Blitzkrieg in Europe and the evacuation of allied soldiers from Dunkirk.