Triumph and Tragedy (The Second World War) (114 page)

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Yours sincerely

,

WINSTON S. CHURCHILL

To this letter Mr. Attlee replied rejecting my proposal for the continuation of the Coalition, and I then sent him a second letter as follows:

My dear Attlee,

I am sorry to receive your letter of May 21, in which
you reject my proposal that we should work together
until the defeat of Japan is achieved and the job is
finished.

In this letter you tell me that our only course is to
prolong the present Coalition till a General Election in
October. This would mean that from now until October,
outside the Government, and even within it, we should
be continually preparing for an election. We have
already suffered several months of this electioneering
atmosphere, which, I am sure, is already affecting
administrative efficiency, and might soon weaken the
country before the world at a time when, above all
others, it should be strongest.

I agree with what you say in your letter that it is “on
the problems of the reconstruction of the economic life
of the country that party differences are most
acute.”“What is required,” you say, “is decisive action.

This can only be forthcoming from a Government united
on principle and policy.” I agree also with your
statement, “My colleagues and I do not believe that it
would be possible to lay aside political controversy now
that the expectation of an election has engaged the
attention of the country.” For my part, I am sure that a
continuance of uncertainty and agitation would be
harmful to the whole process of the recovery of our
trade and the change-over in industry. It is not good for
any country, and it is impossible for any Coalition, to

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live for so long a time under the spell of an approaching
General Election. Least of all is this possible in a world
where events are so tumultuous and dangerous as
now….

I regret that you should speak of “rushing” an
election. Foreseeing what might arise at the close of
the German war, we discussed, as you will remember,
the whole question of procedure in detail in the War
Cabinet. The normal period between a dissolution and
the poll is seventeen days, and it was you and your
colleagues who proposed that there should be at least
a three weeks’ additional interval, in view of the special
circumstances prevailing. We gladly accepted this
reasonable request, and the unanimous decision of the
Cabinet was made known by you on January 17, when
you announced in the House of Commons that the King
had been graciously willing for this occasion to
announce his intention to dissolve Parliament at least
three weeks beforehand.

Yours very sincerely

WINSTON S. CHURCHILL

On May 23, being confronted by a definite breach between the parties, I tendered my resignation to the King. This is almost the only constitutional privilege which a British Prime Minister possesses. But since it involves the end of the Government it is a fairly solid foundation of power. His Majesty, whom I had of course kept fully informed of all that had passed, was graciously pleased to accept my resignation and asked me if I could form another Government. As the Conservatives still possessed a majority in the House of Commons of one hundred over all Triumph and Tragedy

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parties combined, I undertook this task, and proceeded to form what I regarded as a National Administration, but which was in fact called “the Caretaker Government.” Its main structure and core was of course my Conservative and National Liberal colleagues, but in addition all those non-political, or non-party, figures who had played so important a part in the wartime Government without exception remained at their posts. These included Sir John Anderson, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Leathers, Sir Andrew Duncan, Sir James Grigg, Mr. Gwilym Lloyd George, and others.

The formation of a modern British Administration is a complex affair, involving nearly eighty persons and offices.

When I thought of the elaborate processes of personal correspondence, or interviews, with which in Gladstonian days Governments had been formed I felt that only extreme emergency could excuse the use I made of the telephone.

In forty-eight hours the new Administration was complete.

No one impugned its character or quality. It commanded a majority in the House of Commons, and was able to pass the necessary financial and other measures which were required. I gave an “At Home” to the principal Ministers of the former Government at Downing Street on the 28th. The temper was friendly, but electric. Many were genuinely sorry to give up their work, and none more sorry than I to lose their help. We had been through so much together, and all regarded the past five years as a famous period in their lives. History will endorse this estimate.

The following were the “Caretakers”: THE CABINET

Prime Minister and Minister of MR. WINSTON CHURCHILL

Defence

Foreign Secretary

MR. ANTHONY EDEN

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Chancellor of the Exchequer

SIR JOHN ANDERSON

Lord President of the Council

LORD WOOLTON

Lord Privy Seal

LORD BEAVERBROOK

President of the Board of MR. OLIVER LYTTELTON

Trade

and

Minister

of

Production

Minister

of

Labour

and MR. R. A. BUTLER

National Service

Home Secretary

SIR DONALD SOMERVELL

Dominions Secretary

LORD CRANBORNE

Secretary for India and Burma

MR. L. S. AMERY

Colonial Secretary

MR. OLIVER STANLEY

First Lord of the Admiralty

MR. BRENDAN BRACKEN

Secretary for War

SIR JAMES GRIGG

Secretary for Air

MR. HAROLD MACMILLAN

Secretary for Scotland

LORD ROSEBERY

Minister of Agriculture and MR. R. S. HUDSON

Fisheries

OTHER MINISTERSOF CABINET RANK

Lord Chancellor

VISCOUNT SIMON

Minister of Education

MR. RICHARD LAW

Minister of Health

MR. H. U. WILLINK

Minister of Supply

SIR ANDREW DUNCAN

Minister

of

Aircraft MR. ERNEST BROWN

Production

Minister of Works

MR. DUNCAN SANDYS

Minister of Food

COLONEL J. J. LLEWELLIN

Minister of War Transport

LORD LEATHERS

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Minister of Fuel and Power MAJOR

GWILYM

LLOYD

GEORGE

Minister of Town and MR. W. S. MORRISON, K.C.

Country Planning

Minister

of

National MR. LESLIE HORE-BELISHA

Insurance

Minister of Civil Aviation

LORD SWINTON

Minister of Information

MR. GEOFFREY LLOYD

Postmaster-General

CAPTAIN

H.

F.

C.

CROOKSHANK

Minister of State

MR. WILLIAM MABANE

Minister Resident in the SIR EDWARD GRIGG

Middle East

Minister Resident in West CAPTAIN H. H. BALFOUR

Africa

Chancellor of the Duchy of SIR ARTHUR SALTER

Lancaster

Paymaster-General

LORD CHERWELL

Minister of Pensions

SIR WALTER WOMERSLEY

Attorney-General

SIR DAVID MAXWELL FYFE,

K.C.

Advocate-General

MR. J. S. C. REID, K.C.

Solicitor-General

SIR WALTER MONCKTON, K.

C.

Solicitor-General

for SIR DAVID MURRAY, K.C.

Scotland

Everything had been arranged to the satisfaction of the other parties about the dates and timings of the various election stages. The King had allowed it to be known that he would consent to a dissolution after three weeks’ interval Triumph and Tragedy

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from my receiving his new commission. Accordingly on June 15 Parliament was dissolved. Ten days were to elapse before the nominations of candidates, and ten more before polling day, July 5. Every arrangement had been made on strictly equal terms about bringing candidates home from the front, about uniforms and petrol rations, and not the slightest reproach was ever levelled at those who held the executive power. Owing to the fact that the soldiers’ votes must come home to be counted, a further twenty-one days had to elapse between the polling in the United Kingdom and the counting of votes and declaration of results. This final act was fixed for July 26. In several Continental countries, when it was known that the ballot-boxes would be in charge of the British Government for three weeks, astonishment was expressed that there could be any doubt about the result. However, in our country these matters are treated exactly as if they were a cricket match, or other sporting event. Long may it so continue.

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17

A Fateful Decision

Stalin Agrees to a Triple Conference in Berlin in
Mid-July — I Try to Arrange an Earlier Meeting —

I Invite Mr. Attlee to Go to Potsdam — He Accepts

— The Impending Withdrawal of the American
Army to Its Zone of Occupation — The Need for a
Prior Settlement in Europe — The Position Today

— My Telegrams of June
4
and
9
to President
Truman — His Fateful Reply
—
Mr. Truman’s
Proposed Message to Stalin, June
12 —
MyAn-swer to the President — My Telegram to Stalin of
June
15 —
His Reply — The Armies of the
Western Allies — The Burden of the General
Election — The Soviet Armies Occupy Their
Allotted Zones — End of the San Francisco
Conference — My Views on the Composition of a
World Instrument — Correspondence with Lord
Halifax — A Holiday at Hendaye.

O
N JUNE 1 President Truman told me that Marshal Stalin was agreeable to a meeting of what he called “the Three” in Berlin about July 15. I replied at once that I would gladly go to Berlin with a British delegation, but I thought that July 15, which Truman had suggested, was much too late for the urgent questions demanding attention between us, and that we should do an injury to world hopes and unity if we allowed personal or national requirements to stand in the way of an earlier meeting. “Although,” I cabled, “I am in the midst of a hotly contested election I would not consider my