The story behind

Andrew Liddle’s new book explores the fascinating and little-known personal and political rivalry between Winston Churchill and the leader of the Scottish Prohibition Party

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Author Andrew Liddle is a writer and political consultant in Edinburgh; in 1922 Churchill was defeated by Edwin Scrymgeour for the Dundee seat Istarted work on Cheers, Mr. Churchill! Winston in Scotland on the day the UK went into its rst Covid-19 lockdown. These restrictions presented challenges to every aspect of life and producing the rst full account of Winston Churchill’s 15 years as MP in Dundee and his wider relationship with Scotland was, of course, no different. Cheers, Mr. Churchill! Winston in Scotland tells the story of the extraordinary personal and political rivalry between Winston Churchill and the leader of the Scottish Prohibition Party, Edwin Scrymgeour. Scrymgeour, who advocated for the complete prohibition of alcohol, rst challenged Churchill in 1908 and would be defeated by him ve times. But he never gave up, eventually defeating the champagne-loving future Prime Minister in 1922. To date, Scrymgeour is the only Prohibitionist ever elected to the House of Commons. But Cheers, Mr. Churchill! also re-evaluates Churchill’s relationship with Scotland, challenging the popular narrative that he hated Scotland or resented Dundee for voting him out. Indeed, by returning to the original sources, a very different picture emerges. Far from holding Scotland in contempt, Churchill was an enthusiast for his constituency and genuinely tried to make life better for the people who lived there. Cheers, Mr. Churchill! not only tells the story of Churchill’s time as an MP in Scotland, but corrects some inaccuracies and sets his story in Scotland straight.

The main challenge to overcome was research. All the archives – the veritable gold mines that would eventually lead me to discover so much new information about Churchill and Scotland – were, like the rest of outside life, off limits. But all was not lost. I was able to bene t from two particularly wonderful online resources: the Churchill Archive and the British Newspaper Archive.

The life of a researcher is rarely one of drama but discovering previously unknown facts that shed new light – even on someone as well-known as Churchill – is as close to a eureka moment as I will ever get. I can still remember the feeling as I sat in the local history centre in Dundee, surrounded by boxes of completely uncategorised and often unread material, and discovered something new.

This quest for new information – as well as belief in the power of stories – stems from my career as a journalist. But that experience bled through into my writing of Cheers, Mr. Churchill! too. As a trainee reporter I was always told that the best writing was writing that was engaging and comprehensible, not opaque and jargon heavy. The narrative is king – and that is the case in this account too. Having been a political reporter, I have always been fascinated by how contemporary events can impact how historical events are perceived. Amid the debate about Scotland’s continuing place in the UK, myths and sometimes outright falsehoods about Churchill and Scotland have emerged, even – in one case – appearing on an exam syllabus. By correcting the record, I hope Cheers, Mr. Churchill! will also help restore Churchill’s place in Scotland’s story. S

Cheers, Mr. Churchill!Winston in Scotland is published by Birlinn, available from October 2022, £20, birlinn.co.uk