THROUGH THE ARCHIVES: The Conservative Party’s role in regaining freedom of mankind – Churchill

The British Prime Minister was in an upbeat mood when he addressed the annual meeting of the Central Council of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations in London this week in 1942, reported the News Letter.

Mr Churchill had declared with confidence that seemed very likely that the United Nations could not lose the war – except through their own fault.

He warned that failure of the United Nations to used their combined strength and exploit the opportunities presented to them would only prolong the war and at worst risk the Allied victory.

Churchill said: “We must. . .examine searchingly and repeatedly our own conduct and character and quality of our war effort in every form and direction. We must make sure our fellow countrymen and our allies have the best service from us that we can give.”

But Churchill was confident that Great British character would overcome Nazism, he told the meeting: “We must confront them with resilience and ingenuity which are fearless, and, above all, with that inflexible will power to endure and yet to dare for which our island race has long been renowned.”

He added: “In all this the Conservative Party has a vital part to play, and as your leader I shall hope that when the whole story has been told it will be said of the Conservative Party in Parliament and throughout the land, ‘They strove for peace too long, but when war came they proved themselves the main part of the rock upon which the salvation of Britain was founded, and the freedom of mankind regained.”