By the early 1930s, Churchill no longer had a Government position. He opposed plans to give greater independence to India and seemed out of touch. Based at his beloved house at Chartwell in Kent, he continued to write books and newspaper articles, but many thought his political career was over. It was his vocal opposition to Hitler’s new Nazi dictatorship in Germany, and his calls for British rearmament, that gradually brought him back to public notice.

Letter from Churchill to Baldwin 5 December 1936 copyright: Churchill Archives Centre...

The meeting was therefore symbolic … It symbolizes … the deep underlying unities which stir and at decisive moments rule the English-speaking peoples throughout the world … the marshalling of the good forces of the world against the evil forces which are now so formidable and triumphant …

I am not the man I was. I could not be Prime Minister now.

I am an English Liberal. I hate the Tory party, their men, their words and their methods. I feel no sort of sympathy with them – except to my own people at Oldham.

Churchill had always maintained that he would not be “henpecked” into a decision on Votes for Women This was one of the main controversies to dog his tenure as Home Secretary...

Returning to Britain from the US, Churchill found Ramsay MacDonald’s Labour government had issued a declaration, in October 1929, that British rule in India should aim to allow India ‘Dominion Status’. A firm believer that British rule was a guarantee of good government, Churchill’s found himself arguing against colleagues in his own party. Baldwin had endorsed the declaration and nearly everyone else within the party felt that India should be granted limited self-government and dominion status. Only a few ‘diehard’ Conservatives supported Churchill. He fought vehemently. Churchill argued strongly that only British rule could prevent racial and religious divisions within India resulting in bloodshed. But Churchill’s fighting talk didn’t win anyone over. When Gandhi and other Congress politicians were released from prison to attend discussions on constitutional reform, Churchill resigned in protest from the shadow cabinet in January 1931. Click to see some Punch cartoons of the time. 

… I doubt whether anyone feels greater sorrow or pain than those who are responsible for the general conduct of our affairs.

Nothing would induce me to vote for giving women the franchise. I am not going to be henpecked into a question of such importance.