The ''British Gazette'' was a short-lived

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

state newspaper published by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

during the

General Strike of 1926 The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 to 12 May 1926. It was called by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British governmen ...

. One of the first groups of workers called out by the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national tra ...

when the general strike began on 3 May were the printers, and consequently most newspapers appeared only in truncated form. In order to propagate the government's point of view

His Majesty's Stationery Office The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is the body responsible for the operation of His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) and of other public information services of the United Kingdom. The OPSI is part of the National Archives of the Un ...

decided to produce an official publication printed on the presses of the

Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies The Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies was a British right-wing movement, established in 1925 to provide volunteers in the event of a general strike. During the General Strike of 1926, it was taken over by the government to provide vital ...

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

, a former journalist, was appointed the paper's editor and wrote much of its material. The ''Gazette'' first appeared on the morning of 5 May. It was highly condemnatory of the strike and was open that it had no editorial independence. The TUC produced its own newspaper, the ''

British Worker The ''British Worker'' was a newspaper produced by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress for the duration of the 1926 United Kingdom General Strike. The first of eleven issues was printed on 5 May and publication stopped on 17 May after ...

'' (subtitled ''Official Strike News Edition''), however they were unable to match the government's ability to produce and distribute the ''Gazette'', with the ''Gazettes circulation rising as high as 2,000,000. From issue 4, the masthead contained the invitation "Please pass on this copy or display it". The ''Gazette'' ran to only eight editions before the strike collapsed; the last edition, on 13 May 1926, had the headline "General Strike Off". On 7 July 1926, at the end of a debate in Parliament on whether to grant the money to pay for the ''British Gazette'', Churchill responded to

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

A. A. Purcell Albert Arthur "Alf" Purcell (3 November 1872, Hoxton – 24 December 1935) was a British trade unionist and Labour Party politician. He was a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and later President of the International Fed ...

's speculation about what would happen in future general strikes with the words "Make your minds perfectly clear that if ever you let loose upon us again a general strike, we will loose upon you (pause) another ''British Gazette''!"
Hansard
' HC user vol 197 col 2218. The statement drew laughter and applause from both sides and defused some of the lingering political tension in the debate.Roy Jenkins, "Churchill", Pan Macmillan, 2002, p 409.

References

External links

Almost complete (lacking no.8) digitised copies of the ''British Gazette''
from the collection of the

Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick The Modern Records Centre (MRC) is the specialist archive service of the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, located adjacent to the Central Campus Library. It was established in October 1973 and holds the world's largest archive collecti ...

{{Authority control Political newspapers published in the United Kingdom Works by Winston Churchill Publications established in 1926 Publications disestablished in 1926 1926 establishments in the United Kingdom Defunct newspapers published in the United Kingdom 1926 disestablishments in the United Kingdom 1926 in politics Strike paper