Andrew Roberts

Churchill as villain – but is this a character assassination too far?

Revisionist biographies of the great wartime leader are nothing new, but this one really takes the biscuit

Churchill outside 10 Downing Street in June 1943. Credit: Alamy 
issue 14 August 2021

The veteran journalist Geoffrey Wheatcroft claims in his prologue to Churchill’s Shadow that: ‘This is not a hostile account, or not by intention, nor consciously “revisionist”, or contrarian,’ before launching into a long book that is virtually uninterrupted in its hostility to Winston Churchill, his memory and especially anyone who has had the temerity to admire Churchill or learn lessons from his life and career.

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