“I have forfeited a great deal. I have given up an office that I loved, work in which I was deeply interested, and a staff of which any man might be proud. I have given up associations in that work with my colleagues with whom I have maintained for many years the most harmonious relations, not only as colleagues but as friends. I have given up the privilege of serving as lieutenant to a leader whom I still regard with the deepest admiration and affection. I have ruined, perhaps, my political career. But that is a little matter; I have retained something which is to me of great value—I can still walk about the world with my head erect.” – Duff Cooper, 1938

Whatever arguments we might make about Ireland in the Second World War, they will help us better to understand the dynamics of today’s relationships between the great powers.

Remarks by Randolph S. Churchill, Winston Churchill’s great-grandson, at a dinner hosted by Hillsdale College on 14 June 2019 in celebration of the completion of the Official Biography of Sir Winston Churchill. The biography was begun in 1962 by Churchill’s son, Randolph, and continued by Martin Gilbert until 2012, when Larry P. Arnn of Hillsdale College was appointed editor.