Chuck Him?

"Holiday!" snorted Winston Churchill as the Queen Mary brought him home from his nine weeks in the U.S. "It was as strenuous as a by-election." Furthermore, being a private person instead of a prime minister had made it "like fighting a battle in a shirt after being accustomed to a tank. . . . I've come home for a rest."

The Southampton quayside was decked with flags of all nations and with 500 dockhands, shipwrights, soldiers, sailors and sundry Sotonians (city natives). As the tankless warrior walked down the gangplank, the good old English air shook with good old English free speech.

"Nice to have you back, Winnie!" someone shouted. "He's getting a bit old --oughter keep his trap shut!" growled a waterfront voice. Up piped a soldier: "He's done a damned good job for us in America, almost as good as he did during the war." A dockhand yelled: "Chuck him in the sea, the old bastard!"

The great man waved good-naturedly. As he drove off, the quayside cheers drowned out the quayside boos.

In the Arena. Winston Churchill drove into a barrage of rumor that his Conservative Party leadership would soon be taken over by heir-apparent Anthony Eden. Day after his Southampton arrival he turned up in the House of Commons, evoked a round of cheers that interrupted a speech by Food Minister Sir Ben Smith. He smiled and waved apologetically to Smith, who waved back. Next day he held a parley with his "shadow cabinet" of top party colleagues.

Rumor shifted its range. Anthony Eden, went the new word, would carry on as day-to-day Tory boss in Parliament. Winston Churchill would stay on as titular leader and as a background elder counselor. The old battler was not yet ready to be chucked into the sea.

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