Details
CHURCHILL, Winston S. Typed letter signed ("Winston S. Churchill"), to Sir Robert Chalmers, 29 July 1909. 1 page, 4to, in pencil, Board of Trade, Whitehall Gardens stationery. Marked "Secret" in upper left corner. Salutation also in pencil. Matted and framed with a photographic portrait of Churchill.
A MASTER POLITICIAN PLOTS "SECRET" STRATEGY
Churchill speculates with a colleague about the next few political moves in the great Parliamentary battle between the Tories and the Liberals over Lloyd George's "People's Budget" in 1909: "I wish you would let me have a short note explaining to me...the financial confusion and difficulties which would be caused by the rejection of the Budget, or mutiliation leading to rejection by the House of Lords (a) in October, (b) in December; and, secondly, what do you think upon the question of postponing the Appropriation Bill until the Budget is through? Suppose, for instance, on the rejection of the Budget the Government resigned, in what position would the new Government be placed with a hostile majority if no Appropriations Bill was passed? How could they carry on in the time intervening between their acceptance of Office and a General Election?" The upper house rejected the bill in November, which did cause the Government to fall. Churchill used the theme of the "the Peers versus the People" in the ensuing General Election to help hold a slim Liberal majority in the House. Two years later, the Parliament Act of 1911 sharply curtailed the powers of the Lords.
A MASTER POLITICIAN PLOTS "SECRET" STRATEGY
Churchill speculates with a colleague about the next few political moves in the great Parliamentary battle between the Tories and the Liberals over Lloyd George's "People's Budget" in 1909: "I wish you would let me have a short note explaining to me...the financial confusion and difficulties which would be caused by the rejection of the Budget, or mutiliation leading to rejection by the House of Lords (a) in October, (b) in December; and, secondly, what do you think upon the question of postponing the Appropriation Bill until the Budget is through? Suppose, for instance, on the rejection of the Budget the Government resigned, in what position would the new Government be placed with a hostile majority if no Appropriations Bill was passed? How could they carry on in the time intervening between their acceptance of Office and a General Election?" The upper house rejected the bill in November, which did cause the Government to fall. Churchill used the theme of the "the Peers versus the People" in the ensuing General Election to help hold a slim Liberal majority in the House. Two years later, the Parliament Act of 1911 sharply curtailed the powers of the Lords.