Overlord system

Last updated April 30, 2019

The Overlord system was a popular name given to a short lived structure of government in British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's 1951 administration.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a British politician, army officer, and writer. He was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, when he led Britain to victory in the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955. Churchill represented five constituencies during his career as a Member of Parliament (MP). Ideologically an economic liberal and imperialist, for most of his career he was a member of the Conservative Party, which he led from 1940 to 1955, but from 1904 to 1924 was instead a member of the Liberal Party.

Ministers with no departmental responsibilities were appointed to co-ordinate action by groups of Cabinet ministers. Lord Leathers was given the title of Minister for Coordination of Transport, Fuel and Power. Lord Woolton was also given wide ranging responsibilities over agriculture and food.

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Frederick James Marquis, 1st Earl of Woolton, was an English businessman and statesman. A successful department store director and wartime Minister of Food, Lord Woolton became Conservative Party Chairman from 1946 to 1955. He rebuilt the local organisations with an emphasis on membership, money and a unified national propaganda appeal on critical issues. To broaden the base of potential candidates, the national party provided financial aid to candidates, and assisted the local organisations in raising local money. Woolton also proposed changing the name of the party to the Union Party, but when that suggestion fell on deaf ears he instead emphasised a rhetoric that characterised opponents as "Socialist" rather than "Labour". He is given significant credit for the Conservative victory in 1951, their first since 1935.

Viscount Waverley was offered a role overseeing the Treasury, Board of Trade and the Ministry of Supply, but Waverley rejected this offer, thinking the position "wrong in principle".^[1]

John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley, was a British civil servant and politician who is best known for his service in the Cabinet during the Second World War, for which he was nicknamed the "Home Front Prime Minister". He served as Home Secretary, Lord President of the Council and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Anderson shelters are named after him.

Churchill himself returned to his wartime practice of acting as Defence Secretary in addition to holding the office of Prime Minister.

Churchill called the system "a valuable aid to efficiency" but it was criticised by the Labour opposition.^[2]

The system was ended in Churchill's Cabinet reshuffle of September 1953.

A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle is when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet. They are more common in parliamentary systems, and less so in democracies where cabinet heads must be confirmed by a separate legislative body, and occur at pleasure in autocratic systems without suitable checks-and-balances.

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References

↑ Daalder, Hans. "Cabinet Reform in Britain, 1914-1963" . Retrieved 29 June 2012.
↑ "Glasgow Herald, March 25th 1953, p.4". "Prime Minister defends "Overlord" System". Google News. Retrieved 26 March 2012.

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[1] Daalder, Hans. "Cabinet Reform in Britain, 1914-1963" . Retrieved 29 June 2012.

[2] "Glasgow Herald, March 25th 1953, p.4". "Prime Minister defends "Overlord" System". Google News. Retrieved 26 March 2012.