Evening star., 1940-05-12
Churchill Forms
New Cabinet Of
All Parties
5-Mon War Group
Includes AttIee
And Chamberlain
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
LONDON, May 11.-Witln charac-
teristic speed, Winston Churchill to-
night formed new British govern
ment of all parties and gathered
around himself a new streamlined,
lve-man war cabinet while allied
forces raced against time for vantage
points in the Low Countries and
swapped blows from the air with
German warplanes.
The war cabinet, replacing the old
eight-man board of strategy of
Neville Chamberlain, includes Mr..
Chamberlain, Lord Halifax, foreign
secretary under the resigned Prime
Minister, and the Labor party lead
ers, Clement r. Attlee and Arthur
Greenwood.
Its formation was announced. as
British and French troops sped to
positions alongside. their new Dutch
and Belgian allies, Royal Air Force
planes blasted away at German con-
centrations and communications In
the Rhineland and British naval
planes gave Adolf Hitler a dose of
his own surprise strategy with sud-
den stabs against German-occupied
Bergen, on Norways west coast.
In addition to the premiership,
Mr.. Churchill retained the portfolio
Of defense minister and designated
Mr.. Chamberlain Lord President of
the Council; Mr. Attlee, Lord Privy
Seal: Mr.. Greenwood. minister with
out portfolio, and kept Lord Halifax
in his old foreign post.
Eden in War Office.
In appointments outside the war
cabinet, he handed over his former
job Of First Lord Of the Admiralty
to A. v. Alexander, Laborite, who
held the post in Ramsay MacDon-
AIDS government in 1929-31, and
appointed Anthony Eden, Conserva-
tive, minister of war, and Sir Archi-
bald Sinclair, Liberal leader, air
minister.
Mr.. Churchill expects to announce
other cabinet appointments Mon
day or Tuesday.
There were no immediate indica-
tions who will be Chancellor of the
Exchequer or whether Sir John
Simon is being replaced in this post.
1t is regarded now as unlikely
that Lloyd George. World War Pre-
mier and chief critic of Mr.. Cham
berlain, will be included in the
Churchill cabinet.
Handsome, assertive Eden, former
Foreign Secretary under Mr.. Cham
berlain and later Dominions Secre-
tary, supplants Oliver Stanley, whose
replacement of popular Leslie Hore-
Belisha in the war Ministry last
January caused sharp criticism.
Mr.. Attlee. chief of the Labor
opposition, who helped bring Cham
berlain's downfall, replaces Sir
Kingsley Wood.
Sir Samuel Hoare is supplanted
by Sir Archibald, Liberal opposi-
ton spokesman, and Mr.. Green
wood, deputy Labor leader, takes
over the post formerly held by Lord
Hankey.s
Heads Privy Council
AS Lord President of the council,
Mr.. Chamberlain is presiding mem
Der of the Privy Council, a position
not formerly included in the war
cabinet but listed in tonight's an
nouncement as second only to Mr..
Churchill's post.
The smaller war cabinet meets
the demands of numerous members
of Parliament for a less wieldy
body to facilitate quick decisions.
It's duty is to step up the British
war effort unhampered by depart
mental red tape.
Mr.. Chamberlain in his new post
is expected to be able to take over a
,at deal of the House of Commons
work formerly falli on the Prime
Minister, thus freeing Mr.. Churchill
for the big job of running the war.
Some criticism of this appoint-
ment was heard in the lobby on the
ground that it gives the former
Prime Minister too. much author
ity in the government.
Reconstruction of the war cabi-
net leaves out the Chancellor of
the Exchequer and the three serv-
ice ministers. One of the criti-
ciSms OF Mr.. Chamberlain's war
cabinet was that 1t included serv-
ice ministers.
Mr.. Churchill, who succeeded Mr..
Chamberlain last night as Prime
Minister, strove through Saturday
conferences to hasten the reorgani-
zation Of the government.
Men he consulted included Mr..
Chamberlain, Foreign Secretary
Lord Halifax and two leaders of the
Labor party, Mr.. Attlee and Mr..
Greenwood.
Development of the day included:
!. An announcement that new
classes Of conscripts up to the age
tSee CHURCHILL, Page A-1)