Randolph Churchill
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Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer Churchill (May 28, 1911-June 6, 1968) was the son of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine. He was married twice; his first marriage, to the well-known socialite Pamela Digby, later and better known as Pamela Harriman, produced a son, Winston Churchill, who followed in his footsteps as a member of Parliament, and by his second marriage he had a daughter, Arabella Churchill. He was a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1940 to 1945.
Randolph Churchill's political career (and that of his son) was not as successful as Sir Winston's or his grandfather Lord Randolph's. He was appointed an MP during the war to fill a vacancy, but failed to keep his seat after the war. He stood for parliament on many other occasions, and was defeated at each - including losing to future Labour leader Michael Foot in 1951. He only entered Parliament during the war in an uncontested by-election.
Randolph was often portrayed as the bête noire of the Churchills - irascible, bad-tempered, spoilt by his father, and with a serious drinking problem. But he inherited his father's literary flair, and carved out a career for himself as a successful writer. He started the official biography of his father in 1966, but had only finished the second volume by the time of his death in 1968. It was posthumously completed by Sir Martin Gilbert.
It is said that his father declined a peerage so as to not compromise his son's chances of a political career (since by 1911 it had become traditional for British Prime Ministers to come from the lower house of Parliament (the House of Commons). If Sir Winston Churchill had accepted a peerage (even near death), then his son would have automatically been forced to move to the House of Lords. (In 1963, hereditary peers were allowed to disclaim their titles, although the only peer to do so and become Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home — previously the 14th Earl of Home — served very briefly in that office.)
He died of a heart attack in 1968, aged 57.sl:Randolph Churchill sv:Randolph Churchill