A war cabinet is a committee formed by a government in a time of war to efficiently and effectively conduct that war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers, although it is quite common for a war cabinet to have senior military officers and opposition politicians as members.
Prior to the First World War, the British had the Committee of Imperial Defence. During World War I, it became a war committee. [1]
During the war, lengthy cabinet discussions came to be seen as a source of vacillation in Britain's war effort.
The number of cabinet ministries grew throughout the nineteenth century. Following dissatisfaction at the conduct of the Crimean War, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli proposed that the number of cabinet members never exceed 10 (he had 12 at the time). However, this didn't happen, and the number of ministries continued to grow: 15 in 1859, 21 in 1914, and 23 in 1916. [2] Despite talk of "inner circles" within the Asquith Administration, all committees reported to the 23 cabinet ministers, whose priorities were diverse in nature, and who had final say over war policy formation for the first two years of World War I. This cumbersome arrangement could not stand; a more efficient way of prosecuting the war was needed.
In December 1916 it was proposed that Prime Minister H. H. Asquith should delegate decision-making to a small, three-man committee chaired by the Secretary of State for War, David Lloyd George. Asquith initially agreed (provided the committee reported to him and he retained the right to attend if he chose) before changing his mind after being infuriated by a news story [3] in The Times which portrayed the proposed change as a defeat for him. The political crisis grew from this point until Asquith was forced to resign as Prime Minister; he was succeeded by Lloyd George who thereupon formed a small war cabinet. The original members of the war cabinet were: [4]
Lloyd George, Curzon, and Bonar Law served throughout the existence of the war cabinet. Later members included:
Unlike a normal peacetime cabinet, few of these men had departmental responsibilities – Bonar Law, and then Chamberlain, served as chancellors of the exchequer, but the rest had no specific portfolio. The title of, "minister without portfolio" was important. It allowed total devotion to war duties, without the distraction of civil cabinet responsibilities. Among others, the Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, was never a member of the war cabinet, nor were the service ministers Edward Stanley (Army) and Edward Carson (Navy). The latter did join, but only after leaving the Admiralty. [5] Whenever these specialties were needed by the war cabinet, they were summoned. The functioning of the war cabinet is best summed up by Lord Hutchison during a Parliamentary debate held on 14 March 1934. [6]
Despite its efficiency, on 8 June 1917 at Lord Milner's urging, it became necessary to form a War Policy Committee within the war cabinet to coordinate war strategy. Its members included David Lloyd George, Lord Milner, Lord Curzon, Jan Smuts, and Maurice Hankey. [7] [8] Upon his transfer from the war cabinet to the War Office as Secretary of State for War in April 1918, the X Committee was created so Lord Milner could meet with the Prime Minister before war cabinet sessions to continue the talks.
Previously, all cabinet members were paid based upon their cabinet status. With the creation of ministers without portfolio, it was suggested that these positions go unpaid. Indeed, Henry Petty-Lansdowne, a millionaire, while a member without portfolio in Asquith's government, received no pay. The debate, which took place in the House of Commons on 13 February 1917, was decided in the new government's favour. [9] Appropriations of £5,000 a year (£350,000 in 2020) were made. [10]
The British war cabinet marked the first time minutes were recorded of official meetings. [11] This innovation set the trend for all important corporate and governmental meetings since. [12]
With World War I over, and the two main peace treaties signed with Germany and Austria-Hungary, Lloyd George decided to discontinue the war cabinet. Its last meeting was held on 27 October 1919. [13] [14]
The origins of an Imperial War Cabinet date back to the beginning of Lloyd George's government, and the proper way of responding to peace offerings from Germany. The first mention of a conference in the war cabinet happened on 18 December 1916. [15] [16] In January invitations were sent out, and in the spring of 1917 the Imperial War Cabinet was formed. Goals were also established to strengthen imperial federation by upgrading the status of the Dominions and India to an equal footing with that of Britain when coordinating war strategy. The Imperial War Cabinet met in three sessions: from March to May 1917, [17] from June to August 1918, [18] and from August to December 1918. [19] The last session was improvised. It occurred due to Allied successes on the battlefield and a desire of dominion partners to keep abreast of events. Its original members were:
To strengthen ties between countries, the writing of an imperial constitution was a significant priority in 1917. However, the delegates postponed the matter until after the war, and they failed to take it up.
Minutes to the Imperial War Cabinet meetings are held at the National Archives (Kew). [20]
On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland and after to-ing and fro-ing with French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet, an ultimatum was presented to the Germans and on its expiry war was declared at 11am on 3 September 1939.
On 3 September 1939, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced his war cabinet.
Dominated largely by Conservative ministers who served under Chamberlain's National Government between 1937 and 1939, the additions of Lord Hankey (a former Cabinet Secretary from the First World War) and Winston Churchill (strong anti-appeaser) seemed to give the cabinet more balance. Unlike David Lloyd George's war cabinet, the members of this one were also heads of government departments.
In January 1940, after disagreements with the Chiefs of Staff, Hore-Belisha resigned from the National Government, refusing a move to the post of President of the Board of Trade. He was succeeded by Oliver Stanley.
It was originally the practice for the Chiefs of Staff to attend all military discussions of the Chamberlain war cabinet. Churchill became uneasy with this, as he felt that when they attended they did not confine their comments to purely military issues. To overcome this, a Military Co-ordination Committee was set up, consisting of the three service ministers normally chaired by Chatfield. This together with the service chiefs would co-ordinate the strategic ideas of 'top hats' and 'brass' and agree strategic proposals to put forward to the war cabinet. Unfortunately, except when chaired by the Prime Minister, the Military Co-ordinating Committee lacked sufficient authority to override a Minister "fighting his corner". When Churchill took over from Chatfield, whilst continuing to represent the Admiralty, this introduced additional problems, and did little to improve the pre-existing ones. Chamberlain announced a further change in arrangements in the Norway Debate, but this (and the Military Co-ordination Committee) was overtaken by events, the Churchill war cabinet being run on rather different principles. [21]
When he became Prime Minister during the Second World War, Winston Churchill formed a war cabinet, initially consisting of the following members:
Churchill strongly believed that the war cabinet should be kept to a relatively small number of individuals to allow efficient execution of the war effort. Even so, there were a number of ministers who, though they were not members of the war cabinet, were "Constant Attenders". [22] As the war cabinet considered issues that pertained to a given branch of the service or government due input was obtained from the respective body.
The War Cabinet would undergo a number of changes in composition over the next five years. On 19 February 1942 a reconstructed war cabinet was announced by Churchill consisting of the following members: [23]
This war cabinet was consistent with Churchill's view that members should also hold "responsible offices and not mere advisors at large with nothing to do but think and talk and take decisions by compromise or majority" [24] The war cabinet often met within the Cabinet War Rooms, particularly during The Blitz of London. [25]
Thatcher chose not to include any representation of Her Majesty's Treasury on the advice of former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan (who had been British Minister Resident in the Mediterranean theatre for the second half of World War II), that the security and defence of the armed forces and the war effort should not be compromised for financial reasons. [26]
At the Imperial Conference in London in 1937, the Australian government had agreed to form a war cabinet on the outbreak of war. [30] The full cabinet approved the formation of the war cabinet on 26 September 1939. [31] As neither Earle Page's Country Party nor John Curtin's Australian Labor Party would join in a coalition government with Menzies' United Australia Party, [32] the war cabinet initially consisted of:
In November 1939, the Department of Defence was split up. Street became Minister for the Army, Menzies also became Minister for Defence Coordination, and three more ministers joined the war cabinet:
Following the deaths of Fairbairn and Gullett in the Canberra air disaster and the loss of seats in the 1940 Australian federal election the war cabinet of October 1940 consisted of:
The government was replaced by a Labor one on 3 October 1941. A new war cabinet was formed, consisting of:
Frederick Shedden, the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Defence, served as secretary of the war cabinet, [37] which met regularly throughout the war. It held its last meeting in Canberra on 19 January 1946. [38]
While the Australian war cabinets included only members of the governing party, the Advisory War Council which was established in October 1940 included members of the opposition as well. This body did not have executive powers, but from the formation of the Labor Government in October 1941 it was agreed that its decisions would be treated as war cabinet decisions, with only some issues being formally referred to the war cabinet for separate decision. As a result, the Advisory War Council had significant influence on Australia's war effort. [39]
In response to the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush created a war cabinet. They met at Camp David on the weekend of 15 September to shape what became the War on Terrorism. The membership was mostly, but not entirely, identical to that of the U.S. National Security Council.
The cabinet comprised:
On October 11, 2023, four days after the Hamas-led attack on Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the formation of a war cabinet with the following composition. [40] [41]
3 full members:
and 2 observers:
Netanyahu disbanded the war cabinet on June 17, 2024, eight days after Gantz and Eisenkot resigned from the government and the war cabinet. [42] [43]
Arthur Neville Chamberlain was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940 and Leader of the Conservative Party from May 1937 to October 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasement, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement on 30 September 1938, ceding the German-speaking Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler. Following the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, which marked the beginning of the Second World War, Chamberlain announced the declaration of war on Germany two days later and led the United Kingdom through the first eight months of the war until his resignation as prime minister on 10 May 1940.
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party politician from Wales, he was known for leading the United Kingdom during the First World War, for social-reform policies, for his role in the Paris Peace Conference, and for negotiating the establishment of the Irish Free State. He was the last Liberal prime minister; the party fell into third-party status towards the end of his premiership.
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, was a British statesman and Conservative politician who dominated the government of the United Kingdom between the world wars. He was prime minister on three occasions, from May 1923 to January 1924, from November 1924 to June 1929, and from June 1935 to May 1937.
Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax,, known as the Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and the Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was a senior British Conservative politician of the 1930s. He held several senior ministerial posts during this time, most notably those of Viceroy of India from 1926 to 1931 and of Foreign Secretary between 1938 and 1940. He was one of the architects of the policy of appeasement of Adolf Hitler in 1936–1938, working closely with Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. After Kristallnacht on 9–10 November 1938 and the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, he was one of those who pushed for a new policy of attempting to deter further German aggression by promising to go to war to defend Poland.
Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain was a British statesman, son of Joseph Chamberlain and older half-brother of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 45 years, as Chancellor of the Exchequer (twice) and was briefly Conservative Party leader before serving as Foreign Secretary.
Hastings Lionel Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay was a British politician, diplomat and general in the British Indian Army who was the first Secretary General of NATO. He also was Winston Churchill's chief military assistant during the Second World War.
Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner, was a British statesman and colonial administrator who played a very important role in the formulation of British foreign and domestic policy between the mid-1890s and early 1920s. From December 1916 to November 1918, he was one of the most important members of Prime Minister David Lloyd George's War cabinet.
James Richard Stanhope, 7th Earl Stanhope,, styled Viscount Mahon until 1905, was a British Conservative politician.
Philip Cunliffe-Lister, 1st Earl of Swinton,, known as Philip Lloyd-Greame until 1924 and as The Viscount Swinton between 1935 and 1955, was a prominent British Conservative politician from the 1920s until the 1950s. He was notable through the 1940s and 1950s as being firstly the Minister for Aviation, and then being on the steering committee for the Convention on International Civil Aviation. he retired from politics in 1955 and his status was raised to an earldom.
Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey, was a British civil servant who gained prominence as the first Cabinet Secretary and later made the rare transition from the civil service to ministerial office. He is best known as the highly-efficient top aide to Prime Minister David Lloyd George and the War Cabinet, which directed Britain during the First World War.
Neville Chamberlain formed the Chamberlain war ministry in 1939 after declaring war on Germany. Chamberlain led the country for the first eight months of the Second World War, until the Norway Debate in Parliament led Chamberlain to resign and Winston Churchill to form a new ministry.
Liberal David Lloyd George formed a coalition government in the United Kingdom in December 1916, and was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by King George V. It replaced the earlier wartime coalition under H. H. Asquith, which had been held responsible for losses during the Great War. Those Liberals who continued to support Asquith served as the Official Opposition. The government continued in power after the end of the war in 1918, though Lloyd George was increasingly reliant on the Conservatives for support. After several scandals including allegations of the sale of honours, the Conservatives withdrew their support after a meeting at the Carlton Club in 1922, and Bonar Law formed a government.
Winston Churchill formed the third Churchill ministry in the United Kingdom following the 1951 general election. He was reappointed as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by King George VI and oversaw the accession of Queen Elizabeth II in 1952 and her coronation.
The Supreme War Council was a central command based in Versailles that coordinated the military strategy of the principal Allies of World War I: Britain, France, Italy, the United States, and Japan. It was founded in 1917 after the Russian Revolution and with Russia's withdrawal as an ally imminent. The council served as a second source of advice for civilian leadership, a forum for preliminary discussions of potential armistice terms, later for peace treaty settlement conditions, and it was succeeded by the Conference of Ambassadors in 1920.
The Churchill war ministry was the United Kingdom's coalition government for most of the Second World War from 10 May 1940 to 23 May 1945. It was led by Winston Churchill, who was appointed prime minister of the United Kingdom by King George VI following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain in the aftermath of the Norway Debate.
This article documents the career of Winston Churchill in Parliament from its beginning in 1900 to the start of his term as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in World War II.
The early life, business career and political rise of Neville Chamberlain culminated on 28 May 1937, when he was summoned to Buckingham Palace to "kiss hands" and accept the office of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Chamberlain had long been regarded as Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin's political heir, and when Baldwin announced his retirement, Chamberlain was seen as the only possible successor.
Statesmen of World War I is an oil on canvas painting by Sir James Guthrie, completed in 1930, shortly before Guthrie's death. It was commissioned by South African financier Sir Abraham Bailey, 1st Baronet to commemorate the politicians and statesmen of Britain and its Dominions who held office during the First World War. It was donated to the National Portrait Gallery in 1930, shortly after it was completed.
The War Policy Committee was a small group of British ministers, most of them members of the War Cabinet, set up during World War I to decide war strategy. The committee was created at the request of Lord Milner on 7 June 1917, through a memorandum he circulated with his peers on the British War Cabinet. Its members included the Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, Lord Milner, Edward Carson, Lord Curzon and Jan Smuts. The committee was formed to discuss the strategic matter of the Russian Revolution, and the new entry of The United States. Coincidentally or not, the timing of Lord Milner's memo coincided with the detonation of 19 underground mines filled with explosives on the Western Front, which created the largest human explosion of all time. The night before this explosion, General Harington said to reporters "Gentleman, I don't know whether we are going to make history tomorrow, but at any rate we shall change the geography". In Milner's memo, he stressed that the allies must act together for the common good, and not devolve to piecemeal arrangements that satisfied specific countries. The War Policy Committee was formed, and it discussed every major initiative taken by the allies until the end of the war. It was chaired by Lord's Milner and Curzon, with Jan Smuts as its Vice Chairman.
Sir Lancelot Storr was a British Army officer and an assistant war cabinet secretary during World War I. He served on the personal staff of Lord Kitchener at the War Office (1914-1916), and as a secretary on the Committee of Imperial Defence (1916-1921). With Kitchener's help, Storr was transferred to the staff of Sir Maurice Hankey at the end of 1916, as part of the reforms promised by Prime Minister David Lloyd George. Working on Hankey's staff, he served as assistant secretary to the British War Cabinet (1916), the Imperial War Cabinet (1917-1918), and the British Section of the Supreme War Council at Versailles (1917-1918) during World War I. Along with Hankey and assistant war cabinet secretary Leo Amery, Storr is prominently featured in the Imperial War Cabinet photograph of 1917. He also participated in the San Remo conference in 1920. He was knighted and retired from the Army in 1921.