POLITICIANS IN THEIR PRIME
Winston Churchill entered Parliament 120 years ago. MARION McMULLEN looks at his early life and the younger years of some of Britain’s other prime ministers
THE first British Parliament of the 20th century opened in 1901 with a new member for Oldham. His name? Winston Churchill. The country’s future war-time prime minister started making his mark as he entered Parliament 120 years ago on February 15.
“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it,” he once said.
Churchill was born premature and was sent to boarding schools before going to Harrow.
He never studied at university but saw action with the British Army before entering politics.
He made his maiden speech, about the Boer War, three days after entering Parliament saying: “If I were a Boer fighting in the field – and if I were a Boer I hope I should be fighting in the field – I would not allow myself to be taken in by any message of sympathy.”
Labour’s Harold Wilson was just eight years old when he first visited 10 Downing Street and he walked through its doors as prime minister in 1964. He was born in Yorkshire during the First World War and graduated with a first class BA after studying philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford.
He first entered Parliament in 1945, as Labour MP for Ormskirk. He once declared: “The main essentials of a successful prime minister are sleep and a sense of history.”
Carpenter’s son Edward Heath also went to Oxford – one of 28 British prime ministers who were educated there – and also studied philosophy, politics and economics.
He was awarded an organ scholarship his first term and became involved with the Conservative Party while at university and was later president of the Oxford Union.
“A diplomat is a man who thinks twice before he says nothing,” is among his memorable quotes.
James Callaghan grew up in poverty during the Depression and could not afford to go to university.
He started working for the Inland Revenue in the 1930s and was elected Labour MP for Cardiff South in 1945, after serving with the Royal Navy during the Second World War.
He became Prime Minister in 1976 and was the only British leader in the 20th century to have held the posts of Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer beforehand. He once warned: “There are no instant solutions.”
Harold “Supermac” Macmillan learned French at home when he was young and later went to Eton and Oxford. His father was a publisher – Macmillan Publishing was founded by his family – and his mother was an American-born socialite.
Macmillan served in both world wars and first entered Parliament following the 1924 General Election as Conservative MP for Stocktonon-Tees. He became Prime Minister in 1957 and once pointed out: “It has been said that there is no fool like an old fool, except a young fool. But the young fool has first to grow up to be an old fool to realise what a damn fool he was when he was a young fool.”
Sir Alec Douglas-Home came from aristocratic beginnings and also went to Eton and Oxford. He was a keen cricketer and once said: “Oh, God, if there be cricket in heaven let there also be rain.”
He first entered Parliament as MP for Lanark in 1931 and went on to become Prime Minister in 1964, but only held the office for 364 days.
Britain’s first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, read chemistry at Somerville College in Oxford in the days when she was Margaret Roberts.
Her tutor was Nobel prize-winner Dorothy Hodgkin and she worked briefly as a research chemist before marrying and then qualifying as a barrister.
“I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work,” the Iron Lady once pointed out.
“That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near,
John Major was the son of a former circus performer and vaudeville manager. He left school at 16 and never went to university, but was involved in politics from a young age as a member of the Young Conservatives in Brixton.
He won a seat on Lambeth Council when he was only 21 and was later appointed a special guardian to Prince William and Prince Harry following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
He once said: “I’m very proud of what my parents achieved and what they stood for. They didn’t have much, but in many ways they were richer than most.”