WINSTON CHURCHILL FALLS FROM POLITICAL POWER IN 1922

Abstract

The political consequences of Chanak were substantial. The crisis had been played out in public and the newspapers were well informed of processes going on in the Cabinet. Churchill's part in propelling the Cabinet to the brink of a totally unexpected and unnecessary war caused him to lose support from all parties. In addition to this already shaky foundation, the Coalition was weakening and had been acquiring disapproval before the crisis in Turkey. The pattern of these two events occurring simultaneously was enough to cause the downfall of the Liberal Coalition in October 1922. Had Ministers Austen Chamberlain and F .E. Smith accepted advice to abandon Lloyd George and form a center party with Winston Churchill, who would have been the leading Liberal left to receive Unionist support, Churchill may have survived the turmoil in 1922. Instead they publicly supported George which forced Churchill to fight for his Parliamentary seat in Dundee, Scotland as a Liberal and Free Trader. This meant that the Liberal vote would be split three ways. The public view that portrayed Churchill as a warmonger, due to the reports of his handling the situation in Turkey, and the already faltering Coalition government caused Winston Churchill to be forced out of political power for the second time in his career in the public arena.