Turnbull has Churchillian gifts - and their drawbacks

Encounters with Malcolm Turnbull can live up to Chamberlain's quip that talking with Churchill was like arguing with a brass band.

Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain were two leading lights of the British Conservative Party in the 1930s, who had their differences but one shared determination. That was to exclude Winston Churchill from their governments.

Baldwin confided the reasons for this pact in May 1936 to a Tory colleague, Dr Tom Jones.

"One of these days I'll make a few casual remarks about Winston. Not a speech - no oratory - just as few words in passing. I've got it all ready. I am going to say that when Winston was born lots of fairies swooped down on his cradle with gifts - imagination, eloquence, industry, ability, and then came a fairy who said: 'No one person has the right to so many gifts', picked him up and gave him such a shake and twist that with all these gifts he was denied judgment and wisdom."

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