Churchill Steps Down at Number 10
On this day · 5 April 1955
On a spring afternoon in 1955, Britain's wartime leader handed in his resignation to a young queen and quietly left the stage.
On 5 April 1955, Sir Winston Churchill resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, ending his second and final spell at Number 10 Downing Street (1951–1955) and closing a career that had spanned more than half a century in public life.
He was nearly 80 and in fading health, having suffered a serious stroke in 1953 that was largely hidden from the public. His hopes of brokering a Cold War summit with Moscow had also faded. That afternoon he travelled to Buckingham Palace to tender his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II, having hosted the young monarch at a farewell dinner the night before.
“Poor health forced him to resign in 1955.”
Power passed to his long-serving deputy and Foreign Secretary, Sir Anthony Eden, who promptly called a general election and won an increased majority. Churchill did not leave politics altogether: he remained a backbench Member of Parliament for Woodford until 1964, a year before his death in 1965.
Sources & references
2 referencesWell-established. Corroborated by 2 independent sources.
