Editing Winston Churchill (section)

==Leader of the Opposition: 1945–1951==
{{Main|Later life of Winston Churchill}}

==="Iron Curtain" speech===
[[File:Winston Churchill 1949.jpg|thumb|Churchill in 1949]]

Churchill continued to lead the Conservative Party and served as [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]]. In 1946, he was in America from early January to late March.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=807}} It was on this trip he gave his "[[Iron Curtain]]" speech about the USSR and its creation of the [[Eastern Bloc]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-058/the-true-meaning-of-the-iron-curtain-speech/ |last=Harriman |first=Pamela |author-link=Pamela Harriman |title=The True Meaning of the Iron Curtain Speech |work=International Churchill Society (ICS) |date=December 1987 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing plc |location=London |access-date=14 May 2020 |archive-date=15 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615105801/https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-058/the-true-meaning-of-the-iron-curtain-speech/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Speaking on 5 March 1946 in the company of President Truman at [[Westminster College, Missouri|Westminster College]] in [[Fulton, Missouri]], Churchill declared:<ref name="Fulton">{{cite web |url=https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1946-1963-elder-statesman/the-sinews-of-peace/ |title=The Sinews of Peace (the "Iron Curtain" speech) |work=International Churchill Society (ICS) |date=5 March 1946 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing plc |location=London |access-date=14 May 2020 |archive-date=7 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507211241/https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1946-1963-elder-statesman/the-sinews-of-peace/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

{{blockquote|From [[Stettin]] in the Baltic to [[Trieste]] in the Adriatic, an Iron Curtain has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere.}}

His view was that, though the Soviet Union did not want war with the western Allies, its entrenched position in Eastern Europe had made it impossible for the three great powers to provide the world with a "triangular leadership". Churchill's desire was much closer collaboration between Britain and America. Within the same speech, he called for "a [[Special Relationship|special relationship]] between the British Commonwealth and Empire and the United States",<ref name="Fulton"/> but emphasised the need for co-operation within the framework of the United Nations Charter.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=810}}

===European politics===
Churchill was an early proponent of [[pan-Europeanism]], having called for a "[[European Federation|United States of Europe]]" in a 1930 article. He supported the creations of the [[Council of Europe]] in 1949 and the [[European Coal and Steel Community]] in 1951, but his support was always with the firm proviso that Britain must not actually join any federal grouping.{{sfn|Rhodes James|1970|p=220}}{{sfn|Gilbert|1988|pp=265–266, 321}}{{sfn|Charmley|1995|pp=246–249, 298}}

=== Ireland ===
Having lived in Ireland as a child, Churchill always opposed its partition. As a minister in 1913 and again in 1921, he suggested that Ulster should be part of a [[united Ireland]], but with a degree of autonomy from an independent Irish government. He was always opposed on this by Ulster Unionists.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=250, 441}} While he was Leader of the Opposition, he told [[John Dulanty]] and [[Frederick Boland]], successive Irish ambassadors to London, that he still hoped for reunification.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/winston-churchill-spoke-of-his-hopes-for-a-united-ireland-1.2002997 |last=Collins |first=Stephen |title=Winston Churchill spoke of his hopes for a united Ireland |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=17 November 2014 |location=Dublin |access-date=14 May 2020 |archive-date=3 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150103021612/http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/winston-churchill-spoke-of-his-hopes-for-a-united-ireland-1.2002997 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== 1950 and 1951 Elections ===
Labour won the [[1950 United Kingdom general election|1950 general election]], but with a much-reduced majority.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/vote2001/in_depth/election_battles/1950_over.stm |title=1950: Labour limps home |publisher=BBC News |date=2001 |location=London |access-date=16 May 2020 |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803050539/http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/vote2001/in_depth/election_battles/1950_over.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> A fresh election was called the following year and the Conservatives won a majority.