Liberal Crusader: The Life of Sir Archibald SinclairArchibald Sinclair, a wealthy landowner from the north of Scotland, was leader of the British Liberal Party from 1935 to 1945 and Air Minister in Winston Churchill's coalition government throughout its five-year period of office in the Second World War. A widely admired and talented politician, he played an important part in the major controversies of mid-century: appeasement, unemployment policy, the Abdication, rearmament, and war. His integrity, civility and sense of honour set him apart in an age of opportunism and betrayal. 'You are one of the unremembered heroes of the war', Lord Beaverbrook wrote to Sinclair in 1961. 'No man acted with more balance, with more judgement or greater restraint than yourself.'. A devout believer in Liberalism, Sinclair carried his party through its dark age. Under his leadership, the demoralised and disintegrating nineteenth-century relic was finally modernised. That a party - or a version of it - survives to this day is largely due to him. As Air Minister Sinclair played a crucially important role in both the Battle of Britain and the strategic bombing of Germany. He locked horns with Churchill, Beaverbrook, Hugh Dowding and 'Bomber' Harris. Many wished to destroy him. His survival in office from 1940 till 1945 is testimony to his remarkable skill and resilience. Sinclair was a lifelong friend and confidant of Churchill. This biography includes much previously unpublished correspondence between the two men. That dating from the First World War is especially striking, and provides revealing glimpses into the lives of many other important figures of the day. The book is also an absorbing portrait of a private and passionate man, whose love for politics was surpassed only by his love for his wife and family. |
