CHURCHILL, Winston Spencer (1874-1965). Typed letter signed ('Winston S. Churchill') to [Roger]

CHURCHILL, Winston Spencer (1874-1965). Typed letter signed ('Winston S. Churchill') to [Roger] Fleetwood-Hesketh, 10 Downing Street, 1 February 1952, 3 pages, 4to (the ink lightly blotted); with envelope.

Discussing the 'steps the Government are taking to save Britain from economic disaster and to strengthen the Free World against Communist aggression', Churchill sets out the Conservative's plan 'to arrest the disastrous fall in the buying power of the £' and halt the inflation which is affecting social services, pensions and savings, as well as crucial imports. The remedies are 'obvious, if painful. We must consume less and export more', despite protests from some quarters 'that the economic situation is not really critical and that the Tories are working up a scare for sinister purposes of their own.' Convinced that this is more than a Party matter, Churchill reassures his M.P. that 'the Government is confident that it can steer the country out of the economic whirlpool in which it has been helplessly drifting back to security and subsequent prosperity. Without it the future will be black indeed'.

Recently returned to office for his second stint as Prime Minister, Churchill's message to one of his new MPs, the representative for Southport, Roger Fleetwood-Hesketh (1902-1987), reflects the energy and optimism of a new term. The gravity of Britain's economic situation is, however, made very clear – the slump in the value of the pound versus the dollar in the post-war years, as Britain struggled to match the export power of the United States, was a serious concern, and one the Conservatives were determined to fix with tough fiscal measures.


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