I have read that Churchill told his pri­vate sec­re­tary, Jock Colville, in Novem­ber 1951 that his new government’s pri­or­i­ties were ‘houses, red meat and not get­ting scup­pered.’ But I can’t find this in Colville’s Fringes of Power. Any thoughts?

Won­der­ful quote, quite appro­pri­ate in an elec­tion sea­son, wish it were in my book. The date was May 1952 not Novem­ber 1951.

It is quoted as you state it by Paul Addi­son in his out­stand­ing book Churchill on the Home Front (Lon­don: Cape, 1992) 412, foot­noted to Fringes of Power ”diary for 22-23 March 1952.” But Prof. Addi­son had the verb wrong. What Churchill said was “not being scup­pered.”  As such it appears in Fringes page 644 (Hod­der & Stoughton first US edi­tion 1985). Mar­tin Gilbert also has it on page 717 of his Vol­ume 8, Win­ston S. Churchill, “Never Despair” 1945-1965 (Lon­don: Heine­mann, 1988), 717.

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