Ministers at War: Winston Churchill and his War Cabinet By Jonathan Schneer

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Author: Jonathan Schneer

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After the defeat of France in May 1940, only one nation stood between Nazi Germany and total domination of Europe – Britain. This is the gripping story of Winston Churchill’s wartime government, an emergency coalition of Conservatives, Labour, Liberals and men of no party, assembled to see Britain through the war. A chronicle not only of their successful efforts to work together but also of quarrels, power plays, unexpected alliances and intrigue, it is an account of the most important political narrative of our time. With a cast of characters featuring some of the most famous names in twentieth-century British history, including Bevin, Attlee, Chamberlain, Beaverbrook, Morrison, Eden, Cripps – and of course Winston Churchill – this magisterial work provides a unique view of the inner machinations of Britain’s wartime cabinet. Dispelling that the War Cabinet constituted an unbreakable 'band of brothers', award-winning historian Jonathan Schneer reveals that this ensemble of political titans were in fact a ‘team of rivals’ that included four Prime Ministers – past, present and future. Both illuminating and engrossing, Ministers at War is the first work to draw upon original research to present a previously unseen perspective of British politics during and after World War II. Schneer shows us that just as the war had kept them together, the prospect of peace saw this supposedly unbreakable band fall apart, thus providing a fascinating insight into the birth of the Welfare State.

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The more I read about WWII the more questions I have, especially about how important decisions were made. In Ministers at War, Winston Churchill and His War Cabinet, Professor Jonathan Schneer goes a long way in explaining how the British made theirs. Schneer looks at an often neglected aspect of Britain's war effort, which is how Churchill's war cabinet operated, who were the outstanding personalities and how Churchill kept an often fractious group of politicians from both the Conservative and Labor parties in line.As David Reynolds explains in his benchmark study of Churchill as a WWII historian, In Command of History, much of our present understanding of the war is shaped by Churchill's own account of it in his six volume history. Churchill presents the picture of a united Britain and Commonwealth, led by himself to victory. Cabinet members and generals are supportive but take second place. But Churchill's relations with both the cabinet and his senior military officers were often difficult, as he micromanaged military decisions and Cabinet meetings tended to be long, drawn-out affairs dominated by Churchillian monologues. As the war progressed, and Britain's role shrunk in comparison to that of the Soviet Union and the United States, Churchill's leadership of both the military and the cabinet worsened. Many complained that the "old man" was no longer up to it. (Schneer also writes about Churchill's second term in office, as an anxious and increasingly despeerate Anthony Eden, his successor, looked on.)With the publication of Gen. Sir Alan Brooke's (Chief of the Imperial General Staff) memoirs, we learn that Brooke felt his main contribution to the war effort was to shoot down some of Churchill's crazier ideas. (His urging an assault on the island of Rhodes being one example.) Of course Brooke had a sour view of just about everyone (especially the American military,) but at least the other side of the story was being told. The story of the war cabinet, to my knowledge, has not had the benefit of "the curtain being withdrawn" until Professor Schneer's excellent book.In his war history, Churchill writes that the cabinet was always united with him in opposition to Hitler and in determination to fight on regardless. John Lukacs punctured this myth in his book Five Days in London, in which he described Lord Halifax's efforts to begin peace negotiations with Hitler through the offices of Benito Mussolini. Schneer also covers this ground. Churchill bested Halifax and eventually sidelined him as Ambassador to the United States.In 1940, when Churchill succeeded Chamberlain as Prime Minister, Britain still had a strong notion of "cabinet responsibility." While Churchill as Prime Minister was the first among many, governmental decisions were still held to be of the cabinet collectively. The cabinet, not just the Prime Minister, ruled. (This is contrast with the recent trend, where the Prime Minister is seen in a more "presidential" mode. The Prime Minister decisions, the cabinet follows.) Churchill diminished collective responsibility and personally assumed command of the war effort.Churchill took immediate steps to centralize and strengthen management of the war. Churchill led a coalition "all-party" government, which combined the Conservative, Labor and Liberal parties. He created a small "War Cabinet," which effectively governed Britain; there was an "Outer Cabinet" of lesser lights who were left to run their ministries. The War Cabinet initially had five members but the size fluctuated, never consisting of more than ten. It always included Labor leaders such as Clement Atlee (later to be made Deputy Prime Minister) and Ernest Bevin, a trades union leader who was a staunch Churchill supporter.Churchill created a new position for himself: Minister of Defense, which he combined with his role as Prime Minister. He was neither at this point either the head of the Conservative Party (many of whom were appeasers and distrusted Churchill) nor the leader of the House of Commons (which would have been a time-consuming and thankless task.) Churchill thus took unto himself the principal responsibility for strategic decisions, relations with the Army and Navy and war-time diplomacy, most importantly relations with President Roosevelt and the United States. He never relinquished this heavy burden.Professor Schneer examines the relations between Churchill and the War Cabinet members, especially against the backdrop of political trends. The most important political issue was the growing conviction among Britons that the war had to mean something -- that Britain needed full employment and fairer access to health care and education. There was widespread dissatisfaction with the class system and the inequalities it produced. Schneer discusses the lynchpin plan for Britain's "welfare state," the Beveridge Report. (One wonders how a junior cabinet member would be able to exercise such freedom in preparing and publishing such a controversial and even revolutionary report. Today it would be shut up in a filing cabinet.) Eventually this movement toward greater social equality forced Labor to demand a post-war election, although Labor leaders felt it would result in a landslide for the Conservatives. In fact, Labor unseated the Conservatives with a vast majority. Churchill was more-or-less blind to this growing dissatisfaction among Britons and was caught unawares by his defeat. Even Atlee was surprised by the Labor victory.Professor Schneer provides fascinating profiles of different War Cabinet personalities, but we do not learn much about whether or how they actually influenced war-time decisions. Schneer spends considerable time on men who considered themselves as alternatives to Churchill should the latter fail, the press baron Lord Beaverbrook ("5% genius and 95% crook") and the socialist Sir Stafford Cripps ("there but for the grace of God goes God.") While there are interesting stories about each, Schneer acknowledges that neither had any real chance of replacing the Great Man.This is a first-rate book and deserves the attention of readers of WWII history and British politics. I enjoyed it and hope we see more of the like from Mr. Schneer (he previously authored The Balfour Declaration, which sits on my bookshelf unread. This is a good prompt to read it!.)

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