For the United Kingdom, history seemed to teach that returning to the gold standard at the pre-war exchange rate would be crucial to restoring pre-war prosperity.

But Britain struggled to achieve this goal, only to see countries that disregarded the historical lesson, like Germany and France,

return to prosperity more quickly.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Music Episode 240, the Golden Chancellor.

We're going to check in on the situation in the United Kingdom today.

Back in episode 233, we talked about the fall of David Lloyd George and his coalition government,

the general election of 1922, and the events that followed.

Recall that the Conservative Party broke from Lloyd George and his coalition and went into

the election with the intent of forming their own government. The election returned to Parliament with a

conservative majority, and Conservative Party leader Andrew Bonner Law became prime minister. Most of the

conservatives who had worked in coalition with Lloyd George's liberals, such as Austin Chamberlain and

Arthur Balfour, did not become part of Boner Law's government.

Neither did our old friend Winston Churchill, but that's because he no longer held a seat in Parliament.

Churchill ran as a liberal in the 1922 election, although he was unable to campaign.

In September of that year, Churchill purchased Chartwell, an imposing brick mansion in the county of Kent in southeast England. Chartwell had a beautiful

view of the Kentish countryside, which Churchill loved, and this would be his home for the rest of his life.

Not that he could afford it. Winston Churchill was a man of expensive tastes who denied himself

nothing. He owned a Rolls-Royce and was driven by his chauffeur, who was one of the 24 servants he kept on staff.

He favored silk underwear, drank champagne at every meal, and smoked the finest Havana cigars.

And he was perennially in debt.

Just weeks after the purchase of Chartwell was settled, Churchill fell ill with

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