Evening star., 1940-05-20
Will Great Britain
MuddIe Through?
Politics BIomed for Eorly
Reverses Of First
World War
By Berfram Benedict.

1--WE lose every battle but the last
one" the British like to assure them
selves. 1--WE muddle everything, but we
do muddle through Take the last war,
now"
All right, take the last war. 1t was
like the present war for Great Britain in
one respect. at least-a cabinet crisis in
less than year. Last time, the crisis
came after nine months; this time, after
eight. Last time the cabinet gave up
Its partisan status and became coali-
ton under the same Prime Minister:
this time, new Prime Minister replaced
the old.
The Chamberlain ministry at the out
break of the present war in 1899 was
really in part coalition one, although
generally called Conservative. The ira
ditional opponents of the Conservatives,
the Liberals, had split. About two
thirds were supporting the government.
only about one-third were in opposition.
Sir John Simon, the Chancellor Of the
Exchequer (wed call him Secretary Of
the Treasury was Liberal, not Con-
servative. So was Edward Leslie Burgin,
economic dictator on the home front.
So was Hore-Belisha. And although the
Labor party was ofi1cially in opposition.
Malcolm Macdonald, in a key cabinet
position, called himself National Labor
lite, as had his late father, once Prime
Minister.
There was nothing like that at the
outbreak of the last war. The Prime
Minister in August, 1914. was Herbert
H. Asquith, leader Of the Liberal party.
and he headed an all-Liberal cabinet.
Asquith was So; his Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer. David Lloyd George, was a
mere youth of 81, the same age as Adolf
Hitler today.
The first British cabinet crisis last
time. in May, 1915, arose from NUM-
tions shortage. The army in France was
complaining bitterly that it couldn't get
any "forrader," as the British love to say,
because it hadn't enough shells. Army
leaders saw to it that their complaints
reached the ears of the Conservative
leaders, also the ears OF certain press
magnates.
The Secretary of State for War twe'd
omit the third and fourth words in the
title) was Lord Kitchener, Kitchener OF
Khartoum," venerable and venerated
veteran of many campaign in the en-
pire. He was bitterly attacked for in
efficiency in the Daily Mail, North
cliffe paper
To many Britishers that was like at
tacking somebody close to the throne OF
| God. Members of the stock exchange
solemnly burned the blasphemous sheet
on the floor of the exchange.
But there were suspicious even in the
cabinet that Kitchener had lost his grip.
And the government seemed not to be
getting on" with the war in other Sec
tors than France. The Gallipoli CAM
paign, fostered by Winston Spencer
Churchill, First Lord Of the Admiralty
(we'd call him Secretary of the Navy,
was fizzling out. On the eastern and
southeastern fronts the Russian armies
were in full retreat.
| So the ministry was faced with the
alternative. resign or coalesce 1t CO.
alesced, and in May, 1915, the Asquith
Liberal ministry became the Asquith
| coalition ministry.
Churchill was denoted to minor post,
and room was found for Conservative
leaders. The secretary of the British
Labor party Arthur Henderson, also en-
| tered the cabinet. AS for Lloyd George,
he got the all-important new post of
Secretary for Munitions.
Churchill wrote up later the difficulties
of this coalition ministry. There was no
discipline, little unity. The members
argued and argued, expressed themselves
vigorously all over the place, differed
passionately on almost every problem
except the man-eating shark.
Before the ministry had gone coalition,
the Prime Minister had been Mr. Boss.
The British have firmer sense of party
discipline than the Americans; any
member of the British cabinet who didn't
agree with the chief could forget it-or
else. But in 1916 the Conservatives in
the Asquith coalition cabinet, and for
that matter Lloyd George. knew that
the Prime Minister was in no position
to demand their designations
BY December, 1916, British public
opinion had got "fed up" with Asquith at
last, after two and one-third years of
his war leadership. He had been Prime
Minister for over eight years.
In France hundreds of thousands of
British lives, the flower of British man.
hood, had been thrown away-so far as
the John Bull could see, to no avail. In
the east, the Russian military effort was
completely spent, and Russia was out of
the war for all practical purposes. That
released more German troops for the
western front.
In the south, Italy, another OF the
allies, was making little progress against
| Austria Hungary. In the southwest,
Rumania was being overrun. At home,
Ireland was in open rebellion at the
failure of the government to redeem its
| pledge of Irish home rule. And the
| beloved and trusted Kitchener had been
| on the cruiser Hampshire when it was
sunk with the loss of all on board. To
those on the inside, the loss of Kitchener
was actually gain. The man in the
street had less faith in the Asquith
coalition ministry now that Kitchener nf