A figure in the UK's wealth management sector has penned a fascinating and at times surprising account of Churchill's financial life.

A book about the financial thrills and spills of a famous person might not be the kind of tale to set the pulse racing. But a recent financial biography of Sir Winston Churchill has triumphantly crushed such an assumption.

No More Champagne: Churchill and His Money, by David Lough, who is the founder and former chairman of Heartwood Wealth Group, a UK wealth manager, is a brilliantly detailed and compelling account of Churchill’s financial life. Whatever his great merits as a politician, soldier, journalist and war leader, it is plain that Churchill was no Warren Buffett or Rothschild. The fellow was impetuous and frequently gambled and lost large sums (he was fond of casinos); he took significant financial risks and only was able to stay afloat because of his prodigious output as a journalist and author. He also benefited from a circle of generous friends and benefactors, understanding bank managers and some family money. Considering how Churchill often hung on by his fingernails financially, one wonders how a man under such stress could have had the mental toughness to be an effective government minister, let alone lead Britain so bravely during the Second World War.

The book gives a good insight into how Churchill used trusts and other structures to shield his wealth and income from the taxman – although on several occasions the tax collectors won. He sailed close to the wind on tax, although it should be noted that he was scrupulous around money when his ministerial career was concerned. He wasn’t a man to fiddle his expenses, and he was not an outright evader of tax. By today's standards, he was what would be called a skilled tax avoider. (It would be amusing to guess what his attitude would be towards the growing clampdown on "artificial" tax avoidance schemes today.)

The man who emerges from these pages is no paragon of financial virtue, although fans of Churchill will admire his brio in fighting back towards solvency by his writing and investment gusto. The moral of this book, if there is one, is that men as intelligent as Churchill are as capable of getting into tight spots financially as other mortals if they lose sight of basic financial prudence. Not everyone has the ability of a Churchill to recover from losses by skill with a pen.

Lough is careful in his language and does not scold Churchill, or indeed his contemporaries, over what happened. He is also very clever at juxtaposing details of Churchill’s business affairs with world events, such as the 1936 Abdication Crisis, the outbreak of the First World War and General Strike of 1926. For example, he writes about how, within days of becoming Prime Minister in 1940, Churchill was still dealing with the taxman and in discussions about books. 

Churchill was also acutely aware, as many far lesser men and women are today, of how to make the most of his image. Long before the term “image rights” was invented, this man knew how to make the most of his profile. If he were alive today, I am sure he’d have a brand of cigars and champagne named after him. And for the kudos factor alone, I am sure wealth managers would have worked hard to secure him as a client.

To find out more about this book, readers can go to Lough's own website, here and get signed inscribed copies. I strongly recommend this excellent book. For such a large work, it is a real page-turner.