CHURCHILL, Winston S.

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Extensive series of correspondence with the Chairman of the Oldham Conservative Association. An unequalled archive from Churchill's early political years, illuminating a defining moment of his career - his abandonment of the Conservative Party to join the Liberal Party. It details Churchill's growing disillusionment with the Conservatives over free trade, his increasing battles with the constituency association, leading to their vote of no confidence in him, and his crossing the floor.Churchill was elected Conservative MP for Oldham in 1900. Churchill's correspondence with James Travis-Clegg (1874-1942) runs from 1902, when Travis-Clegg was elected chairman of the Oldham Conservative Association, to 1904, when Churchill left the party; Travis-Clegg continued as chairman until 1906. Churchill was a rising star and already tipped by admirers as a future prime minister. From his first letter, he makes plain his focus: "my own policy is to keep as clear as possible of local difficulties... the Parliamentary business is quite enough to tax my time" (23 April 1902). He complains it costs £5 each time he visits and hopes Travis-Clegg will ensure his presence is rarely required. This disinterestedness in the machinations of constituency politics may have turned the association against him.The early correspondence concerns Churchill's opposition to the increased military expenditure proposed by John Brodrick. "At the last election I pledged myself in the plainest terms to the cause of

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