X-Nico

4 unusual facts about War Cabinet


Capture of Jericho

General Jan Christiaan Smuts, a member of the Imperial War Cabinet, was sent to confer with Allenby regarding the implementation of a French qualification to the War Office's Joint Note No. 12—that no troops from France could be redeployed to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force.

On 6 March the War Cabinet gave Allenby leave to advance "to the maximum extent possible, consistent with the safety of the force under his orders".

Demobilisation of the Australian military after World War II

The Australian War Cabinet approved the Department of Post-War Reconstruction's proposed principles to govern demobilisation on 12 June 1944.

Frank Thistlethwaite

Thistlethwaite served in the RAF from 1941–45, during which time he was seconded to the War Cabinet from 1942-45.


Grantham by-election, 1942

The popular Labour politician Sir Stafford Cripps, who had returned to Britain following a spell as Ambassador to Russia, was brought into Churchill's War Cabinet.

Minister for Co-ordination of Defence

When the Second World War broke out, the new Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain formed a small War Cabinet, and it was expected that Chatfield would serve as a spokesperson for the three service ministers, the Secretary of State for War, the First Lord of the Admiralty and the Secretary of State for Air; however political considerations resulted in all three posts being included in the Cabinet, and Chatfield's role proved increasingly redundant.


see also

Baedeker Blitz

On 27 April Winston Churchill told the War Cabinet that the government should do all it could to 'ensure that disproportionate publicity was not given to these raids' and 'avoid giving the impression that the Germans were making full reprisal' for British raids.

Claud Jacob

The couple had one son, Edward Ian Claud Jacob, who later became Assistant Military Secretary of the War Cabinet and Director-General of the BBC.

Down Street tube station

In Billy Connolly's World Tour Of England, Ireland And Wales, Billy takes a tour of the Down Street station, explaining the heritage and showcasing the various rooms Winston Churchill and his war cabinet are believed to have once occupied.

Henry Hopkinson, 1st Baron Colyton

He served in various positions at the British embassies in Washington and Stockholm and was also assistant private secretary to the Foreign Secretary, Sir John Simon, from 1932 to 1934 and First Secretary to the War Cabinet Office from 1939 to 1940.

History of the United Kingdom during World War I

It was only as late as December 1917 that a War Cabinet Committee on Manpower was established, and the British government refrained from introducing compulsory labour direction (though 388 men were moved as part of the voluntary National Service Scheme).

Imperial War Cabinet

Stanley Bruce, Australia's High Commissioner to London, was delegated by his government sit in on meetings of Churchill's War Cabinet.

Other eminent imperial statesmen in the Imperial War Cabinet were Lord Curzon, the Leader of the House of Lords and a former Viceroy of India, and Andrew Bonar Law, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons (and future British Prime Minister).

John Drummond, 8th Earl of Perth

After beginning a banking career, he went to Paris during the Second World War to help Noël Coward in a propaganda office, then returned to London to work in the War Cabinet office and later at the Ministry of Production.

Lower Peover

Lower Peover was also where George S. Patton held meetings with the senior members of the British war cabinet where the discussed plans about many military operations, most notably D-day.

United Australia Party

A special War Cabinet was created;– initially composed of Menzies and five senior ministers (RG Casey, GA Street, Senator McLeay, HS Gullet and World War I Prime Minister Billy Hughes).