Evening star., 1942-02-20
Churchill Expected
To Meet Soon With
Revamped Cabinet
Beuverbrook Rejects Post,
Will Come to U. S. to Ala
In Pooling of Resources
b. the Associated Press.

BY tne Associated Press.
LONDON, Feb. 20.-Prime Min.
lister Churchill, under attack fol
recent British military reverSes
answered his critics today BY
pruning his war cabinet from
nine to seven members in a swif
shake-up from which Sir Stat.
ford Cripps, former Ambassador
to Moscow, emerged as the out.
standing new figure in the gov
ernment.
Mr.. Churchill was expected to cal
a meeting of his new war cabinet
within "a hours.
Cripps, dynamic personality
whose advanced ideas once gave him
q reputation as a radical, was named
Lord Privy Seal and House of Com
mons leader-a dual post which
many political observers believed
would make him second in impor.
tance only to Mr.. Churchill himself
At the same time Capt. Oliver Lyt-
telton, known as "one of winston
bright young men," was appointed
minister of state in charge of pro-
duction. supplanting Lord Beaver
brook, who will go to the United
States shortly to carry on the task
OF pooling the resources Of the
United Nations.
Wood and Greenwood Get Out.
An official announcement said
Lord Beaverbrook had turned down
an invitation to join the new war
cabinet on grounds of health" Two
other veterans-Sr Kingsley Wood
Chancellor of the ExcheQuer. and
Arthur Greenwood, Laborite minis
ter without portfolio-simultane-
ously relinquished their places in
the inner cabinet.
The only other change in the war
cabinet involved Clement r. Attlee.
He surrendered the post of Lord
Privy Seal to make way for Mr..
Cripps and was named Secretary of
State for Dominion Affairs-a move
dictated by dominion demands for
representation-and retained the
title Of deputy prime minister.
Viscount Cranborne, former Domin-
ions Secretary, was not a war cabi-
net member.
Prime Minister Churchill himself
retained the portfolios of Defense
Minister and First Lord of the
Treasury.
The other holdovers in the war
cabinet are Labor Minister Ernest
Bevin, Foreign Secretary Anthony
Eden and Lord President of the
Council Sir John Anderson. Capt.
Lyttelton was a member of the old
inner group of ministers of state for
the Near East.
Press Halls Changes.
The changes were generally ap-
plauded by the press, but the con-
sensus appeared to be that addi-
tional revision would be necessary
to still the clamor of a nation con-
cerned over severe military and ma
val setbacks.
Political circles believed public
opinion might force Mr.. Churchill to
name new air minister in place of
Sir Archibald Sinclair, who has been
roundly criticized since the German
battleships Scharnhorst and Gnei-
senau successfully ran the English
Channel.
In this connection there was some
speculation over the announcement
last night that Air Marshal A. T.
Harris, head of the r. A. F. delega-
ton now in Washington, had been
named commander in chief of the
bomber command, replacing Air
Marshal Sir Richard E. C. Peirse,
who has been given special ap-
pointment."
Authoritative quarters, however,
denied this move had anything to do
with the Channel episode, and there
was some talk that Peirse might be
given supreme command of the
United Nations air forces in the
Southwest Pacific.
Regardless of Sinclair's status,
some minor changes outside the war
cabinet itself appeared to be in
prospect. Informed quarters said
Lord Moyne probably would retire as
head of the colonial Office and that
his place would be taken by ViScount
Cranborne.
These quarters also said it was
likely Mr.. Wood would be relieved
as Chancellor of the Excheuuer
when Mr.. Churchill and the Con-
servative party, of which he is leader,
had agreed on a successor.
The departure of Lord Beaver
brook from the war cabinet was re-
ceived calmly by the press, some sec
tions of which noted that he had not
always been able to get along with
others in the cabinet, notably Mr..
Bevin.
Capt. Lyttelton's position as Min
lister in charge of production still
remained somewhat obscure, but it
was believed it would be clarified
during next weeks war debate in
Commons. Informed sources indi-
Gated the Ministries of Supply and
Aircraft Production, as we'll as Ad-
miralty shipbuilding enterprises,
would be placed under his control.
Major Concession.
BY naming Cripps House of Com
mons leader, Mr.. Churchill made q
major concession to those who have
demanded that he tighten his own
tasks by detailing to another the
task of answering for the govern
ment on the floor of Commons.
He stood firm on another major
point, however, by refusing to give
up the portfolio of Minister of De-
fense, holding to the thesis that it
Is inextricably bound together with
the post of Prime Minister.