What was Churchill's leadership style?

Question 1

What were the key elements of Churchill’s leadership style?

Answer 1

• Astute
• ‘Action this Day’
• Controlling
• A Fighter
• Demanding (but fair?)
• Inspirational/morale booster
• Ruthless
• Bravery (Recklessness?)

Question 2

What were the key elements of Churchill’s structure of government?

Answer 2

• Civilians in charge
• Small War Cabinet
• Defence Committee (Operations)
• General Hastings Ismay, Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence (i.e. Churchill)
• Chiefs of General Staff (COGS)

Question 3

Astute

Answer 3

• Kept Chamberlain in War Cabinet + as leader of Con. party - helped win over pro-Chamberlain MPs who still did not trust Churchill
• Making Chamberlain Lord President of the Council and granting him a seat in the 5-man War Cabinet bought Churchill time to win over his doubters

Question 4

What were the reactions when Churchill went to Parliament to give his first speech on 13 May?

Answer 4

• Chamberlain greeted with cheers when he entered
• Churchill - more muted reception

Question 5

‘Action this Day’

Answer 5

• Within hrs of taking office, Churchill requested limitless supply of red labels with ‘ACTION THIS DAY’ written on them + attached them to minutes and messages around Whitehall - giving sense of purpose and urgency
• Churchill asked that any matter, no matter how complicated, be summed up on a single sheet of A4

Question 6

Controlling

Answer 6

• Churchill wrote in his memoirs, after he became PM: ‘I was conscious of a profound sense of relief. At last I had the authority to give directions over the whole scene. I felt as I was walking with destiny’
• Churchill created Minister of Defence role to conduct the war

Question 7

A Fighter

Answer 7

• Churchill carried pistol w him on trips to Fr., saying: ‘One never knows, I do not intend to be taken alive’.
• Churchill had a Bret gun in his gov. car

Question 8

Demanding (but fair?)

Answer 8

In one memorandum, he wrote that no hammering was to take place during working hrs which ‘are between 7 a.m. and 3a.m.’

Question 9

Inspirational/morale booster

Answer 9

• Visits to bomb sites during Blitz (travelled to 60 towns)
• Speeches

Question 10

Ruthless

Answer 10

1 Jul 1940 - Churchill ordered destruction of key part of the French fleet at Oran, Algeria (Operation Catapult)

3 Jul 1940 - Operation Catapult resulted in 1,297 sailors killed

Attack on an ally revealed Churchill’s ability to do almost anything to win the war.

Question 11

What did Churchill’s daughter and Harold Nicolson say about Churchill’s address to the Commons about Operation Catapult?

Answer 11

Churchill’s daughter: ‘the House began to cheer - the cheering grew and grew, until the House was on its feet - Tories - Liberals - Labour’

Harold Nicolson: ‘the grand finale ends in an ovation with Winston sitting there with tears pouring downs his cheeks’

Question 12

Bravery (Recklessness?)

Answer 12

• 5 flights to France between becoming PM (10 May) and France surrender (22 Jun)
• In 1944, it took a direct order from the King to prevent Churchill from joining the D-Day invasion