Felix Klos’s Churchill’s Last Stand* revisits the long, complex, and at times contradictory story of Churchill’s engagement with the idea of a united Europe, tracing how it evolved across war, defeat, recovery, and political return. This book offers a timely reassessment of a legacy that continues to shape Britain’s relationship with the continent. This Part 1 deals with events up to the Council of Europe in 1948.
This book was recommended to me by Mike Galsworthy, Founder and Director of the Bylines Network. As Chair of the European Movement UK, Mike thought I should understand the origins of our movement. I found Felix Klos’s thoroughly researched and engagingly written account of Winston Churchill’s fight to unite Europe a joy to read. So thanks, Mike!
Klos sets off with the iconic speech Churchill gave in Zurich in 1946. [This sovereign remedy] “is to recreate the European Family … and provide it with a structure under which it can dwell in peace, in safety and in freedom. We must build a kind of United States of Europe” (p7).
Churchill’s early European vision
But Churchill’s ideas on Europe began much earlier. In the 1920s, he met with various European leaders and thinkers. Foremost among them was the charming Austro-Japanese aristocrat, Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, who organised a Pan-European conference in 1926 with 2,000 delegates from 24 countries (p13). In 1929 French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand argued for a ‘federal link’ between European countries. Churchill supported the concept but was in two minds about Britain, with its Empire, being an integral part. In a 1938 News of the World article, he reiterated that “the ultimate purpose of the federation of Europe was still to prevent war” (p25).
But war did happen. Nevertheless, in June 1940, Churchill sought an “indissoluble union” with France to secure French arms and forces for the Allied cause (p31). This failed at the last hurdle when General Pétain persuaded the French Cabinet to seek an armistice with Germany.
By 1942, Churchill was at odds with his Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, who preferred a great power alliance (USA, Soviet Union, China and Britain) to Churchill’s ‘Council of Europe’ idea. In March 1943, having sounded out the USA and Turkey on his idea, Churchill made a worldwide broadcast proposing his ‘Council of Europe’ and referring to himself as “a good European” (p51). However, by the time the war in Europe was over, Churchill had resigned himself to the great power alliance. He had, of course, hoped to “do the peace too” but was cruelly denied this by his electoral defeat on 26 July 1945 (p61).
Post-war Churchill promotes Europe
A period of depression and introspection was dispelled when Churchill rediscovered his love of painting. He was encouraged by art dealer Charles Montag, who helped arrange for Churchill to visit Switzerland in August and September 1945. Churchill stayed at the Villa Choisi in Bursinel, where he spent his mornings painting views of Lake Geneva, including one in the collection of the Churchill Heritage Trust.
After his Swiss convalescence, Churchill spoke in Fulton, Missouri, where in March 1946 he warned of the ‘Iron Curtain’ descending on Europe (p67). He followed this up with speeches across Europe in Brussels, The Hague and Metz on the need for a United States of Europe. In Metz, his speech in front of 40,000 was met with enthusiasm by Robert Schuman, who would later be instrumental in the formation of the European Communities, the Council of Europe and NATO.
All this built up to the Zurich speech on 19 September 1946. It received very mixed reviews – sceptical from the British and American press, dismissive from the Soviets, and mixed from the European press. After Zurich, Churchill built a small core team to promote the European cause – Duncan Sandys, Leo Amery and Bob Boothby, all trusted advisers from before the war. Attempts to include Coudenhove-Kalergi’s Pan-Europeans or the pre-war ‘Focus’ group in a broader team were abandoned (p99). Churchill asked Prime Minister Clement Attlee for Labour support, but was rebuffed with the reply that “objects … would be better achieved through the United Nations” (p111).
However, many leaders of industry supported this ‘United Europe’ with hefty donations (p119). Lobbying in the USA led to the formation of an ‘American Committee’, which over the years donated millions to the European cause.
1947 saw a concerted campaign in Britain to promote the European idea. In May a ‘United Europe’ public meeting was held in the Royal Albert Hall with a large “EUROPE ARISE” placard behind the stage (p123). In his speech, Churchill trod a careful path on Britain’s or Russia’s role. It was well received in the US, and Congress issued a statement that it “favours the creation of a United States of Europe” (p129).
The Congress of Europe
The spring of 1948 was taken up by preparation for a three-day ‘Congress of Europe’ in The Hague in May. There were 800 delegates from across Western Europe, including many Socialists. Churchill tried in vain to gain UK Labour Party support for the Congress, but a ban on Labour MPs attending did not prevent 23 from turning up. As in Britain, so also in the Netherlands, it was industry, notably Philips, that came up with financial support for the event (p143). Churchill ended his inaugural speech by urging delegates to champion the European cause but to avoid defining the structure of any union, which would be for governments to decide and agree (p151). Churchill took a back seat over the weekend so Labour couldn’t accuse him of dominating the Congress. He dined with Queen Wilhelmina and stayed overnight at her palace before addressing 40,000 people in Amsterdam. The plenary session on the Monday passed a resolution for the establishment of a European Charter of Human Rights and called for a European Consultative Assembly (p158).
*Churchill’s Last Stand – The Struggle to Unite Europe, Felix Klos. Bloomsbury 2017. 336 pages.
Part 2 will chart Churchill in power and his failure to realise a Britain in Europe.
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