Later, when his assaults upon the leaders of his own party closed to
him, even in his own constituency, the Conservative debating
clubs, again his ill-wishers said: "This _is_ the end. He has
ridiculed those who sit in high places. He has offended his cousin
and patron, the Duke of Marlborough. Without political friends,
without the influence and money of the Marlborough family he is a
political nonentity." That was eighteen months ago. To-day, at the
age of thirty-two, he is one of the leaders of the Government party,
Under-Secretary for the Colonies, and with the Liberals the most
popular young man in public life.
Only last Christmas, at a banquet, Sir Edward Grey, the new
Foreign Secretary, said of him: "Mr. Winston Churchill has
achieved distinction in at least five different careers--as a soldier, a
war correspondent, a lecturer, an author, and last, but not least, as
a politician. I have understated it even now, for he has achieved
two careers as a politician--one on each side of the House. His first
career on the Government side was a really distinguished career. I
trust the second will be even more distinguished--and more
prolonged. The remarkable thing is that he has done all this when,
unless appearances very much belie him, he has not reached the
age of sixty-four, which is the minimum age at which the
politician ceases to be young.
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