The Hindu : Miscellaneous / This Day That Age : dated April 7, 1955: Churchill resigns

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Thursday, Apr 07, 2005

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Miscellaneous - This Day That Age

dated April 7, 1955: Churchill resigns

Sir Winston Churchill, aged eighty, bowed to the years and resigned on April 5 as Britain's Prime Minister. He will be succeeded by 57-year-old Sir Anthony Eden. Sir Winston took his place at the head of the Cabinet table for the last time on April 5 and bade farewell to the men who have helped him guide Britain through war and peace. He drove to Buckingham Palace from 10, Downing Street to offer his resignation to Queen Elizabeth and so wrote finis to his active career as one of Tory's greatest statesmen. At 23 minutes past four the black door with its bronze letterbox bearing the address: "First Lord of the Treasury" opened and Sir Winston in top hat and old fashioned morning coat with a large cigar appeared. He doffed his topper, waved, and for several seconds posed in response to photographers' shouts of "This way Winston." Mounted police jogged in front of the Prime Minister's car as it moved slowly past cheering people lining the pavements. Churchill arrived at Buckingham Palace at 4.29 p.m. and formally requested her to relieve him. The Queen then asked him to recommend a successor and he named Sir Anthony Eden, the elegant Foreign Secretary who has been his right hand man for many years. Sir Winston has been Prime Minister for a total of eight years, seven months and 25 days — including five years as Britain's great leader during the Second World War. He may not have done well in his early schooling, but one subtle gift rarely failed him - that of finding the words to suit the occasion. In his very first speech as Prime Minister in the House on May 13, 1940, he gave the country his vision, both bleak and fiery, of the long struggle ahead: "I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government: I have nothing to offer but blood and toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many long months of struggle and suffering. You ask: What is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war by sea, land and air with all our might and with all the strength that God has given us to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask: What is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory."

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