A showman politician, oversensitive to press criticism, with a capacity for self-deception and an instinct for concealment, prepared to discredit news as “faked” (1)—this description has a contemporary ring to it. However, “just as Donald Trump is no Winston Churchill, Winston Churchill was no Donald Trump” (3), stresses Richard Toye in his latest, wonderfully rich biographical study. Winston Churchill: A Life in the News sheds a fresh light on one of the best-studied statesmen, exploring the “symbiotic relationship” (6) between Churchill's political life, journalistic career, and media persona. Crucially, Churchill (unlike Trump) surrounded himself with people who could talk some sense into him when he was fuming at the press. Moreover, Churchill encountered institutions that successfully contained his authoritarian impulses towards the media. The Churchill-Trump comparison might seem compelling and timely, especially in a work published during the election year 2020. Yet it comes at the risk of the book becoming dated quickly. That would be a great shame, though, for this book is a notable addition to the literature on British media and political history.

In his 2012 book Mr Churchill's Profession, Peter Clarke has argued that while Churchill's profession was writing, his vocation was politics. Arguably, the link between the two—writing and politics—was journalism, and Toye's work fills a significant gap in the burgeoning field of “Churchill studies.” Given the significance of the media in modern British history generally and in Churchill's career in particular, it is surprising that this is the first comprehensive study of the subject. Toye's new book builds intelligently on his previous monograph on Churchill as an orator. The decline of the platform in British politics meant that the media became an increasingly important conduit for Churchill's rhetoric. However, Churchill himself was also a news subject. Often a darling of the press, his treatment by journalists could also be bruising. As a politician, he was therefore tempted to use his influence to curb the power of the press.

The first theme—Churchill's own writings—is closely linked to the history of modern warfare. Churchill began his journalistic career in 1895 reporting from the Cuban war of independence and ended it with the lucrative serialization of the six volumes of The Second World War (1948–1953). Toye sees Churchill as an exponent of the “new journalism” of the turn of the century, combining adventure with controversy. It was his capture and subsequent escape during the Boer War that catapulted the daredevil journalist to global fame—the reporter who became the news. Churchill's star status is the second theme running through Toye's book. True, Churchill was not the first political celebrity, and, in a sense, he followed in the footsteps of Palmerston, Gladstone, and Disraeli. What distinguished “Winston's” media image was its global scale and its longevity. Interestingly, noisy clashes with the press—“stage thunder” (64), as Lord Northcliffe called it—were part and parcel of the new celebrity politics. But sometimes the conflict was real. Churchill's attempts to influence and even control the media form the third thematic strand of this book. Toye emphasizes Churchill's consistently inconsistent attitude towards press freedom and censorship. Here, it seems to me, lies the true contemporary relevance of Toye's work. Observers of current debates about media freedom will find plenty of food for thought here; for instance, the discussion of Churchill's editorship of the government-run British Gazette during the General Strike in 1926 or his failed attempt to censor a Daily Mirror cartoon by Philip Zec in 1942.

Zec's cartoon is well known, and so is the iconic photo of Churchill in bulldog pose taken by Yousuf Karsh in 1941. However, not every reader might be familiar with the small hats that Churchill cultivated as his trademark in his early years. The book would have benefited from the inclusion of a few illustrations. But that is a minor quibble. Methodologically, the book is a stimulating fusion of political biography and media history, grounded in an impressively thorough exploration of the archival records. It is structured chronologically, ranging from the small paid announcement of Churchill's birth on the front page of the Times in 1874 to the extensive television coverage of his funeral service in 1965. The chronological approach works well here, for Toye characterizes Churchill as a transitional figure in a time of rapid technological change. Initially shaped by press culture of the late Victorian and Edwardian periods (and the example of his mercurial father, Lord Randolph Churchill), Churchill adapted successfully to the arrival of the telegraph, the telephone, photography, radio, and newsreel—though he struggled with television. Churchill's decline coincided with the rise of the small screen. To be sure, ownership of television sets was not yet widespread when Churchill returned to power in 1951, and Winston Churchill: A Life in the News is very much the story of a journalist/politician/celebrity and his preferred medium, the newspaper. Historical and topical, erudite and entertaining, this book deserves a place on both reading lists and coffee tables, regardless of who resides in the White House.