.......throughout the 1930's Winston Churchill ceaselessly warned of the danger of German rearmament and the certainty of war under Adolf Hitler. He did not come to these conclusions on a whim but by solid numeric data from reliable sources which he had set up on his own initiative. This showed astronomic German spending on armaments in blatant contravention of the Treaty of Versailles. Rather than make waves in Europe, the U.K. (with other European governments) chose to allow Hitler to proceed unhindered and for his trouble Mr. Churchill was treated as an outcast.

Familiar? Political establishment in denial; political establishment marginalising Hitlersceptic Churchill; political establishment appeasing Europe; disaster befalls the nation.

The figures did not lie and indeed the pre-war government did not doubt them. It just considered it more pragmatic to make a pact with, rather than make a stand against ... the devil.

In the early 1930's the amounts of German spending on armaments was not in itself proof that war would be a certainty. Winston Churchill's knowledge of history and experience of war led him to conclude that it was and he took every opportunity to make public his convictions. As a result he was isolated, pilloried and treated as a political pariah but he did not deviate. Ultimately when war did occur and a national government was formed Winston Churchill was the only candidate acceptable to all parties as leader because they realised that he was right all the time and was not afraid to say so.

By then they had allowed the country to drift into deadly danger and their backs were to the wall whereas had they heeded the figures and taken timely action they could have saved themselves a lot of heartache. Maybe even prevented a war.