Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Winston Churchill: Has his ‘antagonism’ with Dundee been misrepresented?

Winston Churchill.
Winston Churchill.

He is often portrayed as the embodiment of the so-called ‘British Bulldog’.

The cigar smoking, champagne drinking ‘V for Victory’ signing Second World War leader who stood defiant against the dark forces of Nazism and led Britain out of bloody conflict into the post-war era.

But a century after Winston Churchill lost his Dundee seat after 14 years as an MP for the city, have contemporary political events of the last decade – chiefly the 2014 Scottish independence referendum and Brexit campaign – “hijacked” the perception of his legacy in Scotland?

At a time when the Black Lives Matter campaign has seen his views on race and colonialism scrutinised like never before, have myths grown up around his Dundee defeat to god-fearing teetotaller Edwin Scrymgeour at the 1922 General Election?

‘Myths and falsehoods’

Edinburgh-based writer and political consultant Andrew Liddle thinks so.

In research for his new book ‘Cheers, Mr Churchill! Winston in Scotland’, the 33-year-old former Courier journalist says he discovered many “myths and outright falsehoods” about Churchill.

Growing up in London, Andrew came to Scotland to study history at St Andrews University.

After a stint doing the Press Association journalism training course in London, he joined Courier publisher DC Thomson in spring 2013.

Andrew Liddle

After two years at The Courier that saw him go from trainee reporter to lead Dundee reporter, he worked for a spell as political correspondent for the Press and Journal at Holyrood before two years working with the Labour Party then two years doing political and economic work at the US Consulate in Edinburgh.

Andrew always had an interest in politics and history.

His grandfather George Thomson was Labour MP for Dundee East from 1952 to 1972 before becoming Britain’s first European Commissioner.

Andrew’s great aunt lived in Dundee and he’d visit the city from London as a child.

It was while doing initial research for his book, however, that he came across the only other book ever written about Churchill’s time in Dundee – A Seat for Life – published in 1980.

Extreme Right: Sir Winston Churchill: “An early photo of Winston Churchill in Dundee”

When he bought the book and discovered his own MP grandfather had written a preface for it, it was then he thought he “might be on to something”.

Churchill and Dundee

There’s often a perception that Churchill had an “antagonistic” relationship with Dundee.

But the more he researched, the more he realised that this important part of Churchill’s life was “really under appreciated”.

Andrew’s book explores how in 1922, Winston Churchill prepared to defend his Dundee parliamentary seat in the General Election.

He had represented the city since 1908, enjoyed a majority of more than 15,000 and, after five previous victories, confidently described it as a “life seat”.

Sir Winston Churchill in Dundee

But in 1922, after five previous attempts to unseat Churchill, Edwin Scrymgeour defeated the incumbent and became the only prohibitionist ever elected to the House of Commons.

So why did Churchill lose?

“It’s a really interesting question that I’d break down into two categories,” Liddle says.

“There’s the national political environment.

“I think the important thing to remember in the 1922 General Election was the Liberal Party was split.

“There were two competing Liberal parties –the national liberals under Lloyd George of which Churchill was a part, and obviously there were the Asquithian liberals as well.

“There were two competing liberal brands fighting each other on a national level which obviously is never really going to be conducive to securing widespread public support.

“But more specifically related to Dundee was that Churchill’s constituency had been particularly based around the working class, jute mill industrial vote, and also the immigrant Irish vote.

“Basically in the period between 1918 and 1922 events in Ireland and events in Russia created the perception – some based on reality and some exaggerated –that Churchill was anti-Irish and an opponent of Irish self-determination and obviously extremely anti-Bolshevik.

“That I think damaged his electoral base quite significantly in Dundee.

Mr and Mrs Edwin Scrymgeour being seen off to London after he had taken Winston Churchill’s parliamentary seat for Dundee in November 1922 (C)DCT

“But then the second point I’d make away from those national issues is the local issues.

“Scrymgeour was an extraordinary character. He fought Churchill on six occasions. He was defeated by Churchill five times. But he still kept going and he still kept working the constituency.

“He kept building and expanding his base. And ultimately that paid dividends in ‘22”.

Dundee drink problem?

With high levels of poverty persisting amongst the working classes in the immediate aftermath of the devastating First World War, Dundee had a serious problem with drunkenness and this was widely recognised, says Andrew.

Churchill himself was very concerned about it, and the idea of complete abolition of alcohol in that period was not that novel.

That said, Liddle doesn’t think prohibitionism was a significant factor in Scrymgeour’s success.

Mr and Mrs Edwin Scrymgeor leave from Dundee for London having unseated Winston Churchill from the Dundee parliamentary seat in November 1922

After 1922, several local referendums to ban alcohol sales in Dundee were resoundingly defeated.

Instead, he thinks it was Scrymgeour’s socialist ticket that had greater resonance with voters.

Another “myth”, says Liddle, is that Churchill never forgave Dundee for voting him out.

During his research, he concluded this view was “quite misplaced”.

“I think if you look at Churchill’s remarks in the immediate aftermath of his defeat, he was particularly generous to Scrymgeour.

“In the following years, he wrote a reflection of his times in Dundee and his campaigns in Dundee.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill inspecting Polish forces at West Sands, St Andrews with the Polish Armed Forces’ Commander-in-Chief, General Wladyslaw Sikorski during the Second World War

“He speaks very warmly of Scrymgeour and indeed of Dundee, as he does in speeches following.

“I think the perception there was an animosity is not something that’s particularly born out actually in the evidence.”

Freedom of the City

Andrew says much of the perception of animosity between Dundee and Churchill stems from Churchill’s rejection of the Freedom of the City in 1943.

“The general kind of view is that Churchill rejected it out of hand because he resented the city for voting him out in 1922,” he says.

“What I discovered in my research is there’s a lot more complexity to the story than that.

Former Prime Minister Winston Churchill was a Dundee MP from 1908 until 1922

“Obviously the vote itself amongst Dundee councillors was split. There was only a majority of one in favour of awarding the Freedom of the City to Churchill.

“But the letter sent offering the freedom of the city, actually went to Tom Johnston, a Labour member of Parliament – and himself a former Dundee MP (1924-29) – who acted as secretary of state for Scotland in Churchill’s wartime national government.

“Johnston advised Churchill to reject the Freedom of the City being offered because it wasn’t delivered unanimously.

“He viewed this, particularly in the context of the Second World War, and fight against Nazism, as an insult that should be rejected. He advised Churchill as such.

Winston Churchill and his wife, Clementine, in the 1920s.

“It wasn’t so much that Churchill was rejecting it out of hand. It was actually following the advice of his Secretary of State for Scotland.”

Sources for the book

In terms of sources for his book, Andrew says he was “very fortunate” that the Churchill archive is fantastic and digitised.

But the local history centre at the Wellgate in Dundee was also “fantastically helpful” as were the archives of Courier publisher DC Thomson.

In his days as Dundee MP, Churchill had an “ok relationship” with the local media.

However, when the original David Couper Thomson became an opponent of the Liberal-Conservative coalition, Churchill began to “resent” the way he was “attacked” by the Dundee media and various spats followed.

Sir Winston Churchill with his wife Clementine at Loughton in 1945

“He didn’t help the relationship by first of all trying to cajole and then actively threaten DC Thomson,” he says.

“Churchill, David Couper Thomson claims, threatened to set up a rival newspaper group in Dundee to try and damage the circulation of DC Thomson because he was resentful of coverage.

“There’s the famous exchange when Churchill has a go at DC Thomson in his 1922 speech.

“DC Thomson has a go back and publishes the correspondence between them which includes attempts by Churchill to influence coverage.

“But the really interesting thing is they were published after the polls were closed in the 1922 election.

L-R: Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Josef Stalin with their advisers at Yalta, in the Crimea, where the Allies decided the future of post-Second World War Europe. The agreement was instrumental to the partitioning of Germany and the inception of the United Nations.

“Even though DC Thomson really wanted to show Churchill had sought favourable coverage, DC Thomson didn’t want to be perceived to be influencing the outcome of the election.

“I think that’s quite an honourable thing.”

Prism of contemporary events

Andrew says there’s no doubt that in the Scottish context, Churchill’s legacy is seen through the prism of contemporary events.

Originally this was from the perspective of left and right. But more recently it’s been from a pro and anti-independence perspective.

Winston Churchill as he gives his famous ” V for Victory Salute”

“I think initially Scrymgeour’s victory in ‘22 and Churchill’s defeat was viewed as an indication that Scotland was perhaps more left wing than the rest of the UK,” says Andrew.

“This was seized on by Labour politicians as Scotland rejecting conservatism.

“Of course that ignores the fact Churchill was liberal at the time. But no one in popular opinion remembers Churchill as a liberal – they think of him as 1940 and the bulldog conservative.

“I think in more recent times because Churchill is such an iconic almost emblematic British figure, his legacy has become a casualty of the independence debate.

“I think both sides have sought to use his legacy to imply contemporary political relevance.

Cheers, Mr Churchill! by Andrew Liddle

“I think anti-independence activists will point to the fact Churchill was elected five times in Dundee to show that actually Scotland isn’t anti-British.

“Equally pro-independence activists will point to the fact he was defeated in 1922 as evidence Dundee and Scotland rejected this Britishness.

“I think that’s particularly the case nowadays.

“Given political events in Scotland in the last 10 years in relation to the independence debate, I think a lot is to do with people having a perception of Churchill based on their current politics rather than the reality and therefore  when the reality doesn’t quite meet their expectations, basically seeking to change the reality rather than change their perception.”

How to get the book

*Cheers, Mr Churchill! by Andrew Liddle is published by Birlinn, £20, on October 6.

Conversation