Mr. Winston Churchill has lost very little time in forming his new Ministry, and the energy with which he has set about the task augurs well for the future prosecution of the war. It is highly significant that Mr. Neville Chamberlain has been offered and accepted a post in the Cabinet as Lord President of the Council, for it suggests that to some degree the personal antagonism to him has been overcome, and that the old determination of the Opposition Liberal and Labour parties not to serve with him in any Cabinet has been removed. That is in all probability due to the persuasiveness of Mr. Churchill who has succeeded in uniting all parties in a Ministry formed on the widest possible basis, and consequently representative of the nation as a whole. The fact that Sir Kingsley Wood, Lord Privy Seal Lord Stanhope, Lord President of the Council, Mr. Oliver Stanley, Secretary for War, and Air Minister, Sir Samuel Hoare have been dropped is of considerable importance, for by not including them in his Cabinet Mr. Churchill has eliminated the men who have been most subject to criticism. during the past few months for various Shortcomings of their various departments. As no announcement at the time of writing had been made, regarding who was to be the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, there is still some doubt as to whether Sir John Simon will continue in office. On the face of all that has happened during recent months and the antagonism displayed towards him, he may also not be included in the new Cabinet, though possibly, because of the man's fine showing in office, Mr. Churchill may still be able to persuade his supporters to include him amongst their number.
The inner war Cabinet will consist of Messrs. Churchill, and Chamberlain, Lord Halifax, and Messrs, C. R. Attlee, and Arthur Greenwood. As it stands it represents a Conservative-Labour coalition within the larger Cabinet which is Conservative-Liberal-Labour, and the intention of Mr. Churchill io continue while Prime Minister the concurrent office of Minister of National Defence ensures that he will make himself personally responsible for securing that co-ordiriation of the efforts of all arms for which purpose Mr. Chamberlain originally created the office. Outside the war Cabinet are the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. Arthur Greenwood, Secretary of State for War, Mr. Anthony Eden, and Air Minister, Sir Archibald Sinclair with an average age of just under 50 years of age, as compared with an average of 57 for the whole Cabinet as at present formed. Perhaps the most interesting appointment is that of Mr. Eden. Despite the failure of his policy as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, for which, however, he cannot be held entirely responsible, the very fact that he is so obnoxious to the enemy has probably given Mr. Churchill eminent delight in including him amongst his coadjutors, for it is a clear indication that men opposed to the Nazis, and all that they stand for, shall remain in control of the nation's destinies, and will pursue their policies with a whole-heartedness which springs not only from their natural patriotism, but from their inveterate hatred of the Nazi ideology. Such men may be dubbed warmongers by those best qualified to know what war-mongers are, namely the Hitler regime, but of their determination to destroy the Nazi system there is, fortunately, no room for the slightest doubt.
So the fortunes of war have brought Mr. Churchill to an office which it has long been his ambition to attain. It may be that in him will be found in this struggle that man with sufficient imagination, resource and determination, such as other British leaders have displayed in times of stress, who will lead the Empire to victory again. That he has the necessary drive, the history of his career has shown throughout the whole of his life, and his highly dynamic qualities may inspire this new Cabinet in a manner which the more cautious methods of the late Prime Minister failed to do. It is difficult from the personnel of Parliament as at present established to think of a better aggregation of men to undertake the heavy responsibilities which this war thrusts upon them. It is to be hoped that in the other Cabinet appointments which have to be made, a place will be found for Mr. Lloyd George. There is a popular demand that he shall be appointed Minister for Agriculture. For that, by reason of his hobbies, he is well fitted, and the speeches which he has made in connection with the question of Britain's domestic food supplies, and the energy with which he has criticized what has been done up to the present, suggest that, even at his age, he is still capable of doing much valuable work towards the attainment of victory. The new Cabinet should prove a highly popular one. It inspires the greatest confidence, for it embodies all the leadership existent in the House of Commons, and should allay all anxiety as to the future energetic prosecution of the war, A Bad-mannered Man Quite one of the most amusing stories which have been told about Herr Joachim von Ribbentrop, was that told in the feature "From a Clubman's Chair," in yesterday's issue. It will be recalled that the Nazi Foreign Minister, when Ambassador in London, decided to hold a r—veption one evening at 10 p.m., and instead of sending out the invitations in the language of ihe country, English, or in diplomatic French, ordered them to go out in German. Mr. Winston Churchill, thoughtfully replied in English, accepting the "kind invitation to dinner at 8 p.m., while the Japanese Ambassador replied in 2 four page letter in his own language leaving the would-be hosts in ignorance as to whether he accepted, or not. The story may, of course, be apocryphal, but, when it is remembered how von Ribbentrop committed the gaucherie of giving the Nazi salute when entering the audience chamber to present his credentials to H.M. the King, it is by no means improbable. Herr von Ribbentrop's general behaviour in Britain was such as to give the impression so contrary to the bleatings of a desire for friendship with Britain, in which Herr Hitler indulged so frequently,—of actually seeking to make himself, and the German nation more unpopular than in fact it was at the time. It will be remembered that there was a very strong action of public opinion favouring a better understanding with the Reich, but the blatant bad manners of their Ambassador to the Court of St. James had precisely the effect which so many people did not desire. Herr von Ribbenirop has never been considered by the higher class Germans as something coming out of the top drawer, and his general behaviour, even in the last interviews with Sir Neville Henderson prior to the outbreak of war, is all of a piece with what is known of the man. Though much of what has happened justifies the affixing of the appellation of "barbarians" to the Germans, it has not yet been applied, but if proof were ever needed that some of them are utter vulgarians, Herr von Ribbentrop has done his best most assiduously to provide it. It might be that the man is merely clumsy and knows no better, or that he is completely eaten up by that vanity which plays so important a part in his make-up. Something of that sort of explanation must apply, for even champagne salesmen have been known to comport them-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.