Treasures of the Bodleian

‘I threw this note to J. Pease during the Cabinet of 19.2.10 & he returned it with the drawing of Winston holding a pistol at the cabinet’, Lewis Harcourt wrote on the back of this envelope. Harcourt was First Commissioner of Works at the time, and Churchill was Home Secretary. The day’s Cabinet meeting discussed government plans to reduce the power of the House of Lords after it blocked welfare reforms under the People’s Budget. Churchill’s ‘hot argument’ inspired the cartoon pun.