Churchill, typed letter signed, to his son-in-law Christopher Soames, 15 February 1950

From the collection of the late E.F. Knight

CHURCHILL, SIR WINSTON

Typed letter signed, to his son-in-law Christopher Soames

a letter of encouragement when he stood as Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Bedford, reminding him of the experiences gained in his wartime service "in the Desert with the Coldstream Guards and with the Eighth Army and after that with the Italian Resistance", and in a key passage outlining the future path of Conservatism in the age of the Welfare State, commenting by way of conclusion that "Mary will be a help in the electoral battle, as she was with her battery in Hyde Park", 2 pages, 8vo, headed stationery of 28 Hyde Park Gate, 15 February 1950, punch-holes, treasury tag

"...through Conservative wisdom and Liberal impulse the barriers of class and privilege have been removed, and the road is open to every form of civic virtue and personal endeavour. Moreover, by our social services we have provided and will increasingly provide for those who fail or fall in the struggle of life. Now that we are broad-based on universal suffrage and Parliamentary democracy, the future must be free for all, and every year a more bountiful table should welcome ever more millions of mankind. Beware that this is not narrowed by Socialism or closed by Communistic tyranny..." 

A FAMILY LETTER WITH SIGNIFICANT POLITICAL CONTENT. In 1947 Christopher Soames (1920-87) had married Mary, Churchill's youngest daughter (who had manned with enthusiasm an anti-aircraft battery in central London during the war). Soames won his seat at Bedford in 1950, an election which helped establish the post-war consensus: Churchill's Conservatives accepted the Atlee's government nationalisation of key industries and the formation of the NHS, and were only narrowly defeated by Labour. Soames went on to become Churchill's Personal Private Secretary and was a key figure in his second premiership.

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