Churchill (Winston Spencer)

Typed letter from John Rupert Colville to the Prime Minister, reading in part "How it would be to produce a list showing the total sums involved by wage claims for this year (e.g. railwaymen, postmen, engineers, etc) and to set beside them the extra taxation and higher costs which would be necessary to meet these claims? It strikes me that if, for instance, it could be shown in quite a short table that the total claims amounted to £x million and that this would represent so much rise in taxation or so much increase in the cost of living (giving specific figures) it would be a good way of enlisting support for the Government's case. I would be glad to have a shot at producing this in propaganda form!", with Churchill's handwritten comment in red ink reading "Have a try, WSC, 11.4", one page, 4to, 8 April 1954, stapled together with a carbon copy of a letter from Colville to Louis Petch from the Treasury Chambers, requesting "a table showing the total sums which would be involved in meeting the full claims for wage increases", one page, 11 April 1954 and a letter to Colville from Petch saying "We have been considering, in consultation with the Ministry of Labour, how we can best meet the Prime Minister's request for information about the sums that would have been required to settle in full the claims for wage increases made during the past years" and enclosing a table "prepared by the Ministry of Labour, showing important wage claims made since April 1st, 1953", three pages, 4 May 1954; five pages in total, some handling wear and splitting to margins, small losses to top left corner, vs. April-May 1954.

***Sir John Rupert Colville (28 January 1915 – 19 November 1987) was a British civil servant. He was Assistant Private Secretary to three Prime Ministers: Neville Chamberlain 1939-1940; Winston Churchill, 1940–41 and 1943–45 (and Joint Principal Private Secretary, 1951–55) and Clement Attlee, 1945

Sir Louis Petch, KCB (16 August 1913 – 29 March 1981) was an English civil servant. He entered the civil service in 1937 and moved to the Treasury in 1945, becoming Second Secretary in 1966. He was Second Permanent Secretary of the Civil Service Department from 1968 to 1969, chairman of the Board of Customs and Excise from 1969 to 1973, and chairman of the Parole Board from 1974 to 1979.