Evening star., 1940-01-07
British Cabinet Shuke-up

popular discomfort with the so-called
stalemate campaign on land and sea
and in the air is not Immediately
apparent. In displacing Mr.. Leslie
Hore-Belisha as secretary of state
for war and Lord Macmillan as
minister Of information, Prime Min
lister Chamberlain is at least making
concessions to rising tide of criti-
cism. respectively within the army
high command and in British public
opinion.
The appointments of Oliver STAN
ley, the son Of Lord Derby, respect
ed World War head of the British
war office, as the ebullient young
Hore-Belisha's successor, and of Sir
John Reith, former b. B. c." radio
"czar" Of Britain, as chief of the
information ministry, promise new
policies in both Of those important
fields of War-time activities.
The war Office shift appears to
have taken Britons completely by
surprise. Hore-Belisha's feat in
landing the vanguard of the British
expeditionary force on the Maginot
Line-158,00O troops and $4,000
vehicles-in September without mis-
hap was widely acclaimed feat.
So were the former minister of trans
ports earlier and bold activities
in rejuvenating the British Army at
the top by ruthless relegation of
superannuated generals and promo
ton Of younger men, including the
advancement of Viscount Gort to the
chief command of the forces in
France. Ironically enough, it seems
to have been Lord Gort and other
Hore-Belisha favorites who are at
the bottom of the upheaval which
has resulted in the late war min
isterS forced resignation from
the cabinet. Evidently his penchant
for characterization of the army, a
process which endeared him to
Tommy Atkins, proved his undoing.
It is interesting in America to
learn that one reason for Hoare-
Belisha's. trouble with the British
military leaders was desire to CO.
ordinate the British troops with the
French Army under French COM
mand. During the World War Gen.
Pershing. supported by Secretary of
War Baker, successfully resisted all
efforts to merge the American Expe-
ditionary Force with the allied forces.
Britain's "brass hats" seem to have
become "fed up" with the Hore-
Belisha system of better rations,
more comfortable uniforms, shorter
hours, more congenial surroundings,
increased allowances and other in
novations designed to make barrack
life more attractive to the young
men who take the Kings shilling.
Lord Macmillan, who was trans
ferred from the high bench to the
ministry Of information at the out
break of war, signally failed to dis
tinguish himself in the vital field OF
publicity. There has been constant
complaint of unnecessary censorship
and frequently inept handling Of war
news on those occasions when the
ministry decided the press and public
might safely be taken into the gov
ernment's confidence. The judicial
temperament which Lord Macmillan
brought to his task seems not to
have met the requirements of his
new responsibilities.
To what extent that hard-boiled
but extraordinarily capable Scots
man, Sir John Reith, will satisfy
Fleet Streets craving for the news
from the war fronts is something
time alone can develop. AS the un-
disputed and interchangeable boss
of the semi-government-co controlled
British Broadcasting Corporation
from its inception until a year or
two ago, Sir John proved himself
a master of Whistler's gentle art of
making enemies. He was adamant
to all demands of radio listeners to
"jazz up" B. B. c. programs on
American lines or to permit British
wave lengths to be agitated, as ours
are, by controversial political dis
cussion.