War With Germany

In recent days there has been an orgy of remembering WWII. I know that it is 70 years since Neville Chamberlain, at 11.15am on 3rd September 1939, made what must be the most famous broadcast ever made by any politician in the UK - and I include Winston Churchill. Of course, in those pictures from Downing Street Chamberlain suddenly looked a very old man - even though he was only 5 years older than Churchill - as he was forced to announce to the nation that all that he had striven for as Prime Minister was in ruins and that England was now at war with Germany. Perhaps so much fuss has been generated this year because there are still many people alive who were deeply involved in the war. This will not be the case in ten years time on the 80th anniversary.

I think, also, that we want to celebrate the war because we believe that we did something worthwhile that affected the whole of mankind. We fought on, even though the struggle seemed hopeless, because we thought that resisting tyranny mattered. It is probably true that we would never have won the war without the massive contributions of Russia and the USA, but, nevertheless, at that time we had a unity of purpose that brought together everyone in the land with few exceptions. All our efforts were directed towards the obvious objectives: first, survival: then second, defeat of the enemy. Winston Churchill may have made many mistakes but he inspired the nation even when things were going badly. He had commitment and fundamental objectives which never varied until the war was won. And he believed in democracy and the primacy of the House of Commons in a way that few have since. Compare him with the little men who demand to lead our country today. They have the leadership qualities of a suet pudding - leaden, full of saturated fats and bad for our health.

/