Battle of Britain

On the BBC news this morning it was reported that there was going to be:

Battle of Britain: Flypast for 75th anniversary of 'Hardest Day'

Prime Minister Mr Winston Churchill stated on the 20^th August 1940 in the House of Commons two days after the “Hardest day” the following:

We hope, we believe that we shall be able to continue the air struggle indefinitely and as long as the enemy pleases, and the longer it continues the more rapid will be our approach, first towards that parity, and then into that superiority in the air, upon which in a large measure the decision of the war depends. The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of world war by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. All hearts go out to the fighter pilots, whose brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after day, but we must never forget that all the time, night after night, month after month, our bomber squadrons travel far into Germany, find their targets in the darkness by the highest navigational skill, aim their attacks, often under the heaviest fire, often with serious loss, with deliberate, careful discrimination, and inflict shattering blows upon the whole of the technical and war-making structure of the Nazi power.

Father of the House

Winston Churchill resigned from the House of Commons 50 years ago. He started in the House of Commons in 1900 as a Conservative Member of Parliament for Oldham.  He was Prime Minister twice 1940-1945 and then 1951-1955.  In 1959 he was given the title Father of the House (the member with the longest continuous service).

On the 28^th July 1964 the then Prime Minister (Sir Alec Douglas-Home) said “ I beg to move, That this House desires to take this opportunity of marking the forthcoming retirement of the right honourable Gentleman the Member for Woodford by putting on record its unbounded admiration and gratitude for his services to Parliament, to the nation and to the world; remembers, above all, his inspiration of the British people when they stood alone, and his leadership until victory was won; and offers its grateful thanks to the right honourable Gentleman for these outstanding services to this House and to the nation.”

I thought I would check Hansard for some of his speeches from World War I and from World War II.  An example of one of the many hundreds of speeches he gave in the House of Commons is on the 27th November 1914 as the First Lord of the Admiralty where he states “But even if we were single-handed, as we were in the days of the Napoleonic wars, we should have no reason to despair of our capacity-no doubt we should suffer discomfort and privation and loss-but we should have no reason to despair of our capacity to go on indefinitely, drawing our supplies from wherever we needed them, and transporting our troops wherever we required them, and to continue this process with a strength which would grow stronger with each month the War continued until, in the end, and perhaps not at any very distant date, the purposes for which we are fighting are achieved.”

Obviously one of the most famous speeches he made to the House of Commons on the 20^th August 1940 was “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. All hearts go out to the fighter pilots, whose brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after day....”

All the many speeches Winston Churchill gave to the House of Commons can be found via the  National Library of Scotland's website if you live in Scotland and you have a library card. It is listed under licensed digital collections and contained in the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers database.