On This Day

27 October 1951

Winston Churchill offers Clement Davies a post in his new cabinet

Liberal Party leader Clement Davies meets newly elected Conservative Prime Minister Winston Churchill at Churchill’s London home at Hyde Park Gate. The meeting was to discuss Churchill’s offer to include Davies in his cabinet as Minister for Education with an involvement in the formulation of government policy. The two men met again at Chartwell the following day, after which Davies returned to London to report the offer to the Liberal Party Executive. The Executive voted by 11 to 1 to reject the offer (the sole vote in favour being that of Lady Violet Bonham Carter) and Davies announced that he ‘felt unable’ to accept Churchill’s offer.