Great Britain: A Child of the House

Winston Churchill was elected to the House of Commons in 1900—when Victoria was still Queen and Gladstone had been gone only five years. Almost immediately he became one of its storm centers. His views were often heretic, often changed—and often right. In his maiden speech, he bolted Tory doctrine to argue—ironically—against trying to match the power of "the clanking military empires of the European continent." Shortly afterward he bolted the Conservative Party itself, joined David Lloyd George's Liberals, only to return 20 years later, completely unabashed: "Anybody can rat, but it takes a certain amount of ingenuity to re-rat."

Churchill...

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