More red? Winston Churchill boozes with Stalin
WINSTON Churchill smoothed the way for a crucial phase of the Second World War by sharing a riotous banquet with Russian leader Joseph Stalin.
The pair sat down to “food of all kinds crowned by suckling pig and innumerable bottles” at a sumptuous dinner in Moscow in 1942.
Sir Alexander Cadogan, the Prime Minister’s top aide for the trip, said he arrived later to find them “merry as a marriage bell”.
But the evening’s excesses sealed Stalin’s support for the North African offensive despite British fears that he wanted the Allies to attack Nazi forces in Europe instead.
The drinks at the banquet included something “pretty savage” but Churchill stuck with “a comparatively innocuous effervescent Caucasian red wine,” according to Sir Alexander’s declassified report.
He added: “As to the results, firstly – and most important – I think the two great men really made contact and got on terms."