6 – He was also a noted Islamophobe

“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia [rabies] in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.”

Churchill’s disdain for Muslims was not always as strong as it would become. Indeed, in 1907, when he was Secretary of State for the Colonies, his interest in Islam was such that some family members feared that he might convert. “Please don’t become converted to Islam;” wrote his sister-in-law, Lady Gwendoline Bertie, “I have noticed in your disposition a tendency to orientalize, Pasha-like tendencies, I really have. If you come into contact with Islam your conversion might be effected with greater ease than you might have supposed, call of the blood, don’t you know what I mean, do fight against it.” There was no real danger of Churchill converting, but he was certainly interested at one stage.

When discussing Churchill’s views on Judaism and Jews and Islam and Muslims, it is worth considering the contradictions and contrasts between what he said and the way in which he acted in the real world. For example, Churchill would regularly say anti-semitic things and lazily and maliciously stereotype Jews, while in practice laying the ground for the foundation of the Jewish state and, of course, fighting against the virulently anti-Jew Nazis. Contrast this with Islam: Churchill was outwardly something of an Islamophile, who enjoyed the cultural aspects of Islamic countries and according to a close friend, Wilfrid S. Blunt, would even dress in Arab garb at points in his later life, but in his actions, he was capable of incredibly brutality against Muslims and responsible for some of the land-grabs and naked imperialism that have created such huge discord in the Islamic world.

“Individual Muslims may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it,” he wrote in 1889 in his account of his experiences fighting Islamic forces in Sudan. “No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.” Naturally, there is no time at all for the clear fact that there was one civilisation going around the world and colonising things and it certainly wasn’t the Sudanese.

What we can see from this deep dive into the words and actions of Winston Churchill is that, if there is one thing that defines his worldview, it was that British was best. And given that almost all British people were Christians and white, then that was best as well. Churchill might not have been that dissimilar to other men of his age and background – which, lest we forget, was an incredibly small group and yet one tasked with ruling a quarter of the globe – he was in the rare position of being able to carry out the racist and bigoted views that he had.

Now we move on from Churchill’s early life and writings to the man himself and his actions in power. There were plenty of reasons why, when he was mooted as a potential successor to Neville Chamberlain in 1940, many thought that he was wholly unsuited to the job. First among them, perhaps, was that he had been roundly useless at most of the posts of high office that he had been given before, beginning with the disaster that was Gallipoli.