If Winston Churchill was so great and loved why was kicked out of office virtually months after WW2?

Question

Obviously the British people thought he was doing a rubbish job, innit

Answer 1

He mucked up a job involving a loss of many of England's best ships at the time, after he accidently chartered them toward a underwater mine field that lost very costly ships at the time, which was our main hope to win the war...

Answer 2

Democracy, that's why. 'Events, dear boy, events!' (Harold MacMillan, PM)

Answer 3

Good question- I recently wondered that myself. I'm awaiting some good answers here, too.

Have a star.

Answer 4

Because he wasn't in the right party.

During the war, people thought that a strong government, with a good grip of history and national heritage, would do the best job of leadfing the fight. The Tory party suited this need.

But after the fighting was over, it was clear that a more left-wing administration was needed. Industries had been nationalised, so that they could be run for the good of the national 'war effort', but a Conservative government was likely to return them to private ownership. A vast number of people who had been working in the forces, and in other war-related work, would be suddenly unemployed if the peacetime Tory preference for 'private enterprise' was allowed to rule. Private companies would aim to make as much profit as possible while employing the smallest number of people they could manage with.

The Labour Party's approach to health care, property law, employment practices, housing needs and a whole load of other 'social concerns', appealed to more people.

It is only in recent decades that the parties have become politically identical. This makes debate much more trivial, so that the age of a leader, or somebody's dress sense, can provide the ammunition for media outrage.

Back then, it wasn't so much the person that was significant, rather the things they represented. With his 'v-for-victory' salute and face like a bulldog, Churchill was good at 'flying the flag'. That's really useful in battle, but pretty pointless once the fighting stops.

Answer 5

Winston Churchill was very right wing after the war the feeling of the people was socialism so in come labour

I hope that answers your question

Answer 6

Labour's 1945 manifesto was what the people wanted. This manifesto committed Labour to creating the NHS in 1948, a masterpiece of soclialist policy the Tories still dare not ditch! They also committed to major social welfare policies. This was vital, as many families after the war where left with the man of the house disabled, or even dead. The result was a Labour majority of 147, but this popularity was short lived. In five years the majority was reduced to just 5, and a year after that Churchill was PM again with a Tory majority of 16.

Answer 7

With the Second World War coming to an end in Europe, the Labour Party decided to pull out of the wartime national government, precipitating an election which took place in July 1945. Labour won overwhelming support while 'Churchill... was both surprised and stunned' by the crushing defeat suffered by the Conservatives.

The single greatest factor in Labour's dramatic win appeared to be the policy of social reform - housing and the Labour policy of full employment.  Only a very small number of people were concerned with international security, which was emphasised by the Conservatives. The Beveridge Report, published in 1942, proposed the creation of a Welfare State. It called for a dramatic turn in British social policy, with provision for nationalised health care, expanded state funded education, national insurance and a new housing policy. The report was extremely popular, and copies of its findings were widely purchased, turning it into a best-seller. The Labour Party adopted the report eagerly, whereas the Conservatives largely dismissed many of its suggestions, claiming they could not be afforded. Labour offered a new comprehensive welfare policy, reflecting a general consensus that social changes were needed. The Conservatives were not willing to make the same concessions that Labour proposed, and hence appeared disjointed with public opinion.

With the war drawing to an end by 1945, the National Government sought to call an election in a bid to return to a two party system. As Churchill's personal popularity remained high, Conservatives were confident of victory and based much of their election campaign on this, rather than propose new programmes. However people distinguished between Churchill and his party, a contrast which Labour repeatedly emphasised throughout the campaign.

There was especially strong support for Labour in the armed services, who feared returning to the unemployment and homelessness to which the soldiers of the First World War had returned. Anthony Burgess remarked that Churchill himself was not nearly as popular with soldiers at the front as with officers and civilians: He noted that Churchill often smoked cigars in front of soldiers who hadn't had a decent cigarette in days.

So in summary, with the end of the war in sight, Britain loved the man but not the party - the country needed a change entering into times of peace.

Answer 8

The answer to that is fairly simple to understand.Britain killed itself basically to win the war,by the time it was over the country was on it's knees,shocked,emotionally crippled,scarred and wanted nothing but change.

During the intense,truamatic fighting in the First World War the ordinary soldier was promised he'd return to a 'land fit for heroes',that after the ordeal they had suffered in the trenches,the country,government and society would reward them with full employment,good times amd prosperity when in actual fact what happened was an economic collapse in europe,for obvious reasons and it took a decade or more to begin to recover.The men who returned from that war were left feeling betrayed and that they let down by the country and people they fought for.

The Second World War was in every respect a product of the First World War and the servicemen who fought in it were mostly the sons of veterens,while the staff officers and those who planned and administered it fought in the first.The very unsatisfactory state of affairs they returned to in 1918 were never forgotten and when the war was won everyone,not only the returning soldiers but the civillians who were very much in the frontline in a way the previous generation werent were desperate for change,were desperate for that 'land fit for heroes'.

The plans for the NHS and the welfare state were,if not initially planned then certainly they were finalised and worked out,promised too before the war was through.

Britain was truamatised and demoralised,on her knees by the wars end and the one thing the people agreed on was that the war should be forgotten about and an entirely new outlook and future built for the people who fought and strived to see our country survive.

An unforetunate and unlikely casualty of this was Winston Churchill.There is no doubt he was the man for the moment,it is doubtful that any other person living in Britain at the time could have rallied the country in it's darkest hour and steered it through the times ahead,that isn't historical rhetoric it is a fact yet he was so much a part of the war and the victory that there was no way the country could draw a line under it and begin to heal while he was still prime minister.It needed an entirely new approach,a new personality at the helm.

While it seems like the ultimate betrayal of a man who gave everything he had to bring the country through I don't think it was.First of all he was re-elected as prime minister not so many years later and I think he'd have been the first person to say that the country never actually owed him anything.

All through his career from the Boer War to the First World War and into the 30's he lurched from one disaster to another,never finding his niche,his reason although he always knew that he was a 'man of destiny',in the early to mid 30's when people shaken by the uncertainty of the post first world war days and the rise of communism initially were drawn to fascism (even in this country you'd be surprised how popular it was to start with).

Churchill a much loved,while eccentric character to the public but in political circles he was thought of as somewhere between a washed up has been and a sad old reactionary whoes time had come and long gone.His was the lone voice that warned of the danger and evil of fascism when the rest of the country's leadership including members of the royal family embraced it as the future.

Yet he had his hour,his time,in his 60's he became that real 'man of destiny' he always knew he would be,his whole life led him to be where he was needed and where no-one else could have done what he did and for that I don't believe he'd have considered himself cruelly treated.

Answer 9

Britain wanted a National Health System and benefits

Answer 10

hahah random. i know the decendent of winston. he goes to my school. he's a freshman hahah.

Answer 11

Winnie was the right man at the right time, but his time had passed, and he was living on his WWII reputation.

It was a classic case of "What have you done for me lately?"