Career
Before becoming a Member of Parliament, he was a journalist, notably in the Middle East during the Six Day War, during which time he met numerous Israeli politicians, including Moshe Dayan, and published a book recounting the war.
Later, Churchill became Member of Parliament for the constituency of Stretford, near Manchester, from 1970 until the 1983 general election. Boundary changes which took effect at that election made his seat more marginal (it was subsequently taken by the Labour Party), and he transferred to the nearby Davyhulme constituency, which he represented until the seat was abolished for the 1997 general election. Although well known by virtue of his family history, he never achieved high office. His cousin Nicholas Soames is a serving Conservative MP.
During his time as a Member of Parliament, Churchill visited Beijing with a delegation of other MPs, including Clement Freud, a grandson of the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Freud asked why Churchill was given the best room in the hotel and was told it was because Churchill was a grandson of Britain's most illustrious Prime Minister. Freud responded by saying it was the first time in his life that he had been "out-grandfathered".
He also was the subject of controversy in 1995 when he and his family sold a large archive of his grandfather's papers for £12.5m to Churchill College, Cambridge. The purchase was funded by a grant from the newly established National Lottery.
After leaving Parliament, Churchill was a sought-after speaker on the lecture circuit and wrote many articles in support of the Iraq War and the fight against Islamic terrorism. He also edited a compilation of his grandfather's famous speeches entitled Never Give In. In 2007 he acted as a spokesman for the pressure group UK National Defence Association. He was also involved with the National Benevolent Fund for the Aged, as trustee from 1974 and chair from 1995 to 2010.
Churchill lived in Belgravia, London, where he died on 2 March 2010 from prostate cancer, which he had suffered from for the last two years of his life.
Read more about this topic: Winston Churchill (born 1940)
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