Churchill was the canny political animal very devious bursting with energy and determination learning as hard as he could.
When our governments want to sell us a course of action they do it by making sure it's the only thing on the agenda the only thing everyone's talking about. And they pre-load the ensuing discussion with highly selected images devious and prejudicial language dubious linkages weak or false 'intelligence' and selected 'leaks.'
It's probably foolish to expect relationships to go on forever and to say that because something only lasts 10 years it's a failure.