Churchill Leaving Commons

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30121, 3 May 1963, Page 11

Churchill Leaving Commons

(NZ.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright)

LONDON, May 2.

Sir Winston Churchill’s decision to retire at the next General Election after being a member of Parliament since 1900 was lamented today in the British press.

Newspapers, irrespective of their political allegiances, splashed the news across front pages amid tributes to his service to the nation. There was also speculation that he might now accept some high peerage.

The announcement of Sir Winston Churchill’s retirement came last night in a letter to his Conservative constituency at Woodford, Essex.

He said the accident to his leg last year “has greatly decreased my mobility, and it has become difficult for me to attend the House of Commons as I would wish.’’ He broke his thigh in a fall while on holiday in Monte Carlo.

But. said the “Daily Express.’’ in spite of this. Sir Winston Churchill, aged 88. went out last night to attend a Royal Academy banquet and at one point refused to ride in his wheelchair. Editorially the newspaper said: “The House of Commons has today a unique prestige and authority among democratic assemblies. Inspiration. Eloquence

“It owes that position above all to the man who filled it with the flame of his inspiration and the majesty of his eloquence.’’ The “Daily Sketch” said Sir Winston "Churchill’s decision surprised many M.P.s as “they had thought that Sir Winston Churchill, ‘Father of the House’ and the greatest living Parliamentarian, would stay on to the end."

The political correspondent of “The Times” said: “Members of all parties at Westminster last night heard the news with a sense that a Parliamentary epoch will end when Sir Winston Churchill no longer counts as a member of the House of Commons.”

The political correspondent of another influential daily, the “Guardian’’ wrote: “Latterly, age and physical decline have kept him from the House.

Sign of Power

“But whenever he has attended the House, his presence has been regarded as a sign of the power of Parliament and a reminder of the gifts which an individual may bestow on his fellows.”

The “Daily Mail” splashed the news under a front-page banner headline “Winston Bows Out.”

The “Daily Mail” said editorially: “Thus will end the most spectacular, the most sensational and the most wonderful Parliamentary career of this or perhaps any other age.” Sir Winston Churchill was a man who took broad views “stating principles, throwing off brilliant ideas, but leaving details to others,” the newspaper said. The “Daily Mirror” commented: “No politician has ever held more ministerial posts. None has had such a remarkable career. “Now the question is: Will Sir Winston Churchill accept a peerage?” United States officials today received With “understanding but regret” Sir Winston Churchill’s impending retirement from the House of Commons. They said they would share the disappointment which would no doubt be felt on all sides in Britain that the figure of Sir Winston Churchill, now an honorary citizen of the United States, would no longer be seen in the chamber.