Randolph Churchill Tells Of Bids To Bar Home

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30338, 14 January 1964, Page 13

Randolph Churchill Tells Of Bids To Bar Home

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, January 13. Mr Randolph .Churchill, the journalist son of Sir Winston Churchill, suggests in a book published in London today that there were two determined last-minute efforts among Conservative leaders to stop Lord Home—now Sir Alec Douglas-Home—-from becoming Prime Minister after Mr Harold Macmillan last October.

In his book, “The Fight for the Tory Leadership,” Mr Churchill says the first attempt came during a midnight meeting of five “caballeros” after it became known that Mr Macmillan, in hospital after a prostate gland operation, was going to recommend the Scottish peer to the Queen as his successor.

The second “stop-Home” move came immediately after the first attempt had failed and Lord Home had already accepted the invitation from Buckingham Palace to try to form a new administration, but before he had actually managed to do so.

It was organised by Lord Hailsham (now Mr Quintin Hogg), who was one of Lord Home’s main rivals. Recounting the dramatic events of last October 17, the day when Mr Macmillan handed over to Lord Home, Mr Churchill lists the five “caballeros” of the abortive midnight meeting as: Mr Enoch Powell, then Minister of Health; Mr lain McLeod, then Conservative Party chairman; Mr Reginald Maud, ling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer; Mr Frederick Erroll, then President of the Board of Trade; and Lord Aldington, a vice-chairman of the party.

Butler Was Asleep According to Mr Churchill these five men might also have liked to have had Mr Richard Butler, then Deputy Prime Minister and Lord Home’s chief rival, by their side but he was asleep in a London hotel. Another allegedly malcontent member of the Government, Sir Edward Boyle, then Minister of Education, was out of London on an official engagement. During the meeting the “caballeros” decided that they must get word to Mr Macmillan urgently asking him to delay action on his resignation which was due next morning, for another two or three days so that someone other than Lord Home might have a chance of emerging as his successor. Mr Churchill says that, having decided to press for a postponement, the five men then persuaded Mr Martin Redmayne, the Chief Whip of the Conservative Party in the House of Commons, to join them so that their collective view might be passed on to the Prime Minister before it wast too late. Commenting that it was already much too late, Mr Churchill says it was believed that one “caballero” in desperation even telephoned to the Queen’s private secretary, Sir Michael Adeane, about the matter. Call To Home Mr Churchill says that Mr Macmillan duly received a report early next morning from Mr Redmayne on the activities of the malcontents within the Government and that the Prime Minister rang up Lord Home when he saw what S stir the “stop-Home” movement had caused in the morning newspapers. According to Mr Churchill, their conversation went like this:

Lord Home: Well, 1 thought I was coming in to heal, not to wound.

Mr Macmillan: Look, we can’t change our views now. All the troops are on the starting line. Everything is arranged, it will just cause ghastly confusion if we delay. The book also mentions a story, widely circulated at the time, to the effect that Mr Butler had tried doggedly to telephone the Prime Minister at the hospital the same hectic morning to press a similar demand that action be delayed. It was said that the Prime Minister had refused to accept the call from his deputy. Mr Churchill comments that this particular story was patently absurd and could not be believed by anyone who knew Mr Macmillan or his methods.

No Call Received The Downing Street switchboard, through which calls to and from the Prime Minister were channelled, did not receive or record the supposed call from Mr Butler. Mr Macmillan had no recollection of the incident and Mr Butler himself had denied it. The other “stop-Home” movement came into its stride later on that same fateful Friday, October 17, just as Mr Macmillan’s resignation was being handed in and the Queen, on the outgoing Prime Minister’s recommendation, was asking Lord Home to form a new government. The organiser of this second attempt was no less than Lord Hailsham, the third main runner in the premiership stakes. Lord Hailsham had had a large—-possibly the largest—following at the Conservative Party’s annual conference at Blackpool, which had just ended.

Mr Churchill himself, was, as he admits in his book, canvassing actively for Lord Hailsham during the Blackpool turmoil over the succession. Hailsham’s Reasons Explaining Lord Hailsham’s eleventh-hour move to stop Lord Home, Mr Churchill said Lord Hailsham had felt Lord Home’s inexperience on the home front disqualified him for the Prime Ministry. Consequently he had arranged a meeting between himself, Mr Maudling and Mr Butler, the key men in the Government, at Mr Butler’s office.

There Lord Hailsham had put forward his case against Lord Home and told Mr Butler what he had already told him in private, that he was prepared to serve under him. Lord Hailsham had urged Mr Maudling to say that he would do the same. He also had urged that this “triangular” meeting be followed by a “quadrilateral” meeting with Lord Home himself. This meeting could not be arranged until the evening, and by that time Lord Home had already been entrusted by the Queen with the task of trying to form a government. “This did not deter Lord Hailsham from arguing the case once more with his accustomed cogency and vigour,” Mr Churchill writes. Saw Home Alone Between the ’’triangular” and “quadrilateral” meetings Lord Hailsham had also seen Lord Home alone. Lord Hailsham had then pointed out “a number of difficulties” as he saw them. But he had maintained that the final position

depended on agreement between the four contenders, arrived at collectively and not at separate interviews. Without their consent no effective administration could be formed and failure might lead the Quden to consider the possibility of sending for the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Wilson) Lord Hailsham is reported to have told Lord Home.

This second "stop-Home” movement also failed in the end, because Mr Maudling did not rally to Mr Butler and Mr Butler failed to respond to Lord Hailsham’s offer to serve under Mr Butler, Mr Churchill said.

In the end all three agreed in turn to serve under Lord Home after all, and only two members of the old Government, Mr Powell and Mr McLeod, left the new Government in protest against the selection of Lord Home.