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10 The Tide Begins to Turn: November 1942 to May 1943
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 October 2009
Extract
Tuesday 3 November 1942 … this war is becoming more and more tremendous and one can see no end to it – one doubts, indeed, whether one will live to see the end of it —I should like to and yet I dread all that is to come after it — I foresee so much disappointment and discontent as the result of all the nonsense that is being given tongue to nowadays. Why should human nature be changed for the better as a result of war? Why should we expect a better world because everyone will be poorer and yet expect to live more easily and do less work? To me the future looks very bleak and I fancy that there will be a rude awakening to realities particularly in this country where, despite all that is now said to the contrary, the bulk of the population was well off and prosperous before the war.
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References
1 William Whytehead Boulton (1873–1949), Con. M.P. Sheffield Central 1931–45; whip 1940–44; cr. Bart. 1944.
2 Church bells had been silent since the summer of 1940, when it was decided that they would be used as the alarm signal in the event of an invasion; it was now proposed to ring them in celebration and thanksgiving for the victory at El Alamein.
3 The 1922 Committee originated as an independent initiative and was not formally a part of the Conservative Party organization; membership was confined to backbench M.P.s, and thus it was not a forum for the whole parliamentary party.
4 Herbert Morrison (q.v.), Home Secretary from 3 Oct. 1940 to 23 May 1945.
5 Jean Louis Xavier François Darlan (1881–1942), executive head of French Navy 1933–39, C. in C. 1939–40; Min. of Marine in Vichy Govt. 1940–42, Chief Min. Feb. 1941–Apr. 1942; was in Algiers when Allied troops landed on 8 Nov. 1942, disassociated himself from Vichy when German forces entered the ‘unoccupied zone’ in the following days, ordered French forces in N. Africa not to fire on Allied forces and offered to collaborate. Darlan was regarded more favourably by the Americans, leading to inter-allied frictions; he was assassinated in Algiers on 24 Dec. 1942.
6 French warships at the main naval base of Toulon scuttled themselves on 27 Nov. 1942 in order to avoid capture by the German forces occupying the Vichy zone.
7 The Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services, written mainly by the chairman of the Interdepartmental Ctte., Sir William Beveridge (q.v.); it attracted great popular attention, and is regarded as the founding charter of the ‘Welfare State’.
8 A board meeting of the Liverpool, London & Globe insurance company.
9 Konni Zilliacus (1894–1967), Lab. M.P. Gateshead 1945–50 (Ind. Lab. 1949–50), Manchester Gorton 1955–67; worked in Information Section, League of Nations Secretariat 1919–39; expelled from the Lab. Party May 1949, readmitted Feb. 1952; a member of the ‘Labour Independent Group’ 1949–50.
10 (Victor) Alexander John Hope (1887–1952), Civil Ld., Admiralty 1922–24; Con. Party Dep. Chairman 1924–26; Chairman, India Joint Select Ctte. 1933–34; Viceroy of India 1936–43; styled Earl of Hopetoun 1887–1908, sue. 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow 1908, K.G. 1943.
11 Wilfrid Arthur Greene (1883–1952); Lord Justice of Appeal 1935–37; Master of the Rolls 1937–49; Lord of Appeal in Ordinary 1949–50; kt. 1935, cr. Baron Greene 1941.
12 William Lawther (1889–1976), Lab. cand. S. Shields 1922–24, M.P. Barnard Castle 1929–31; Pres., M.F.G.B. 1939–54; Pres., T.U.C. 1949; kt. 1949.
13 Lawther had been jailed for two months for intimidation and interference with food distribution during the General Strike of 1926.
14 Henri Honoré Giraud (1879–1949), French army career; G.O.C. 9th Army 1940; imprisoned 1940–42, escaped 1942; High Comm., French N. & W. Africa 1942; Co-President, French Ctte. for Nat. Liberation, May–Oct. 1943; C. in C. Free French Army 1943–44.
15 Allen Algernon Bathurst (1895–1942), Con. M.P. Southampton 1922–29, Bristol Central 1931–42; P.P.S. to J.T.C. Moore-Brabazon 1925–28, to T. Inskip 1936–39; styled Lord Apsley 1895–1942, heir of 7th Earl Bathurst but predeceased him.
16 The assassin was in fact a fanatical French royalist.
17 Ministry of Town and Country Planning.
18 translation: those in command.
19 Ralph Assheton (1901–1984), Con. M.P. Rushcliffe 1934–45, City of London 1945–50, Blackburn W. 1950–55; P.P.S. to W. Ormsby-Gore 1936–38; P.S. Labour 1939–42, Supply 1942–43; F.S.T. 1943–44; Con. Party Chairman 1944–46; Chairman, Public Accounts Ctte. 1948–50; cr. Bart. 1945, Baron Clitheroe 1955; also suc. his father as 2nd Bart. Sep. 1955.
20 Archibald William Henry James (1893–1980), Con. M.P. Wellingborough 1931–45; P.P.S. to R.A. Butler 1936–38, 1943–45; Hon. 1st Sec. in Embassy at Madrid 1940–41; kt. 1945.
21 Charles André Joseph Marie De Gaulle (1890–1970), career in French army from 1909; commanded a division in May 1940, escaped to Britain after fall of France; established the ‘Free French’, became leader of French Ctte. of Nat. Liberation in Algiers, June 1943; entered Paris Aug. 1944; his regime recognized as French govt. by the Allies Oct. 1944; Pres. of provisional govt. 1945–46; head of ‘govt. of national safety’ 1958–59; 1st Pres. of 5th Republic 1959–69.
22 The diary entry of 10 Feb. was written by mistake on the first three-quarters of the page intended for 11 Feb.; Headlam drew a line across the page and then wrote the first part of the entry of 11 Feb. below this, continuing the rest of the entry on the page intended for 10 Feb. and amending the printed title on both pages.
23 translation: in possession of one's faculties, i.e. sane.
24 The location of this address is unclear: Temple does not seem to have spoken publicly on these issues at this point, either in a radio broadcast, in the House of Lords, or in a meeting reported in the press. However, exactly two weeks previously, on Wednesday 27 Jan. 1943, he had addressed a private meeting of M.P.s and peers on this topic. That meeting decided to send a deputation to the cabinet and to adjourn for a week to await their report. This may either have been that reconvened session postponed by a further week, or another private meeting. It is unlikely that Headlam is referring here to the 27 Jan. meeting. The earlier part of the entry refers to Headlam's speech on the Beveridge report which was delivered on 17 Feb., and this section flows directly on from this and would seem to have been written at the same time. There are no missing days in the diary during this period, and no reason why Headlam would misplace an event by two weeks. Furthermore, it would seem that he was not at the 27 Jan. meeting as the diary entry for that day mentions an appointment at 5.00 p.m., after which Headlam had ‘a lonely dinner’ at his Club ‘and am off to bed 9 p.m.’
25 The two issues were not directly connected; there was evidence that the blockade was leading to starvation conditions in parts of occupied Europe, in particular in Greece and the Low Countries, whilst on 16 Dec. 1942 Eden had made a statement in the Commons which for the first time affirmed that the Nazi regime was murdering the Jewish population.
26 Charles Philips Trevelyan (1870–1958), Lib. M.P. Elland 1899–1918, Lab. M.P. Newcastle Central 1922–31; P.S. Educ. 1908–14; Pres. Bd. of Educ. 1924, 1929–31; Ld. Lt. Northumberland 1930–49; suc. 3rd Bart. 1928.
27 Ralph Verney (1879–1959), Military Sec. to the Viceroy of India 1916–21; Sec. to the Speaker 1921–55; Examiner of Private Bills, House of Commons 1927–44; kt. 1928, cr. Bart. 1946.
28 James Milner (1889–1967), Lab. M.P. Leeds S.E. 1929–51; P.P.S. to C. Addison 1930–31; Chairman of Standing Cttes. 1935–43; Dep. Chairman of Ways & Means Jan.–Mar. 1943, Chairman & Dep. Speaker Mar. 1943–May 1945, Sep. 1945–Oct. 1951; cr. Baron Milner of Leeds 1951.
29 Charles Williams (1886–1955), Con. M.P. Tavistock 1918–22, Torquay 1924–55; P.P.S. to Sir A. Griffith-Boscawen 1921–22; Dep. Chairman of Ways & Means 1943–45, Chairman & Dep. Speaker 1945.
30 When the decision was taken on 10 Mar. 1943 to widen the membership to all M.P.s in receipt of the Conservative whip, and so include serving Ministers, the name was changed to ‘the Conservative and Unionist Members' Committee’. However, the shorthand term ‘1922’ remained in common use, and by 1951 the 1922 Committee had reverted to both its former composition of backbenchers only and its former name.
31 Arthur Kinsley (1865–1943), Roman Catholic clergyman; ordained 1893; Rector, English Coll. at Rome 1917–30; Archbishop of Sardis 1930–34, of Westminster 1935–43; cr. Cardinal 1937.
32 Ivan Mikhailovich Maisky (1884–1975), Soviet Amb. in Helsinki 1929–32, in London 1932–43; Dep. For. Min. 1943–46.
33 Richard George Proby (1886–1979), landowner and farmer; Chairman, Eastern Area, 1938–48; Chairman, N.U. Exec. Ctte. 1943–46; Chairman, N.U. 1946, Pres. 1958; Chairman, Country Landowners' Assoc. 1943–46, Pres. 1947–51; High Sheriff, Huntingdon & Cambridgeshire 1953; cr. Bart. 1952.
34 Frances Joan Dickinson (1894–1985), married 1919 John Colin Campbell Davidson (1889–1970), Con. Party Chairman 1926–30; styled Viscountess Davidson after husband raised to peerage 1937, & sue. him as Con. M.P. Hemel Hempstead 1937–59; member of N.U. Exec. 1955–85, Pres. N.U. 1964–65; founder of the Young Britons, and the first woman to be elected to the Exec, of the 1922 Ctte.; cr. Dame 1952, Baroness Northchurch 1963.
35 Frederick James Marquis (1883–1964), business careeer; Min. of Food 1940–43; Min. of Reconstruction 1943–45; Lord Pres. May–July 1945, 1951–52; Chanc. Duchy of Lancaster 1952–55; Min. of Materials 1953–54; Con. Party Chairman 1946–55; kt. 1935, cr. Baron Woolton 1939, Viscount 1953, Earl 1956.
36 This had become Headlam's practice in wartime on a Thursday evening before catching the train north, due to the problems of obtaining cabs in the black-out.
37 George Steven Harvie-Watt (1903–1989), Con. M.P. Keighley 1931–35, Richmond (Surrey) 1937–59; P.P.S. to E. Wallace 1937–38; Ass. Whip 1938–40; P.P.S. to W. Churchill 1941–45; Chief Exec., Consolidated Gold Fields 1954–69; Dep. Ld. Lt., Greater London 1966–78; cr. Bart. 1945.
38 (James) Douglas Wishart Thomson (1905–1972), Con. M.P. Aberdeen S. 1935–46; P.P.S. to W. Mabane June–Oct. 1939, to various Min. of Shipping Oct. 1939–May 1941, to J. Llewellin 1941–42; sue. 2nd Bart. 1935.
39 A recently formed left-wing pressure group, able to contest by-elections as it was not bound by the wartime truce agreed between the main parties. Common Wealth had a broad radical agenda of nationalization and welfare reform, and was able to mobilise popular aspirations for post-war reconstruction and to benefit from the unpopularity of the Conservative Party. Between 1943 and the end of the war Common Wealth won a series of by-election victories in Conservative or National Liberal defended seats, in several cases with candidates who were members of the Labour Party.
40 George Darell Jeffreys (1878–1960), army career; G.O.C. London District 1920–24, Wessex Div. 1926–30; C. in C. Southern Command, India 1932–36; Aide-de-Camp Gen. to the King 1936–38; Con. M.P. Petersfleld 1941–51; kt. 1924, cr. Baron Jeffreys 1952.
41 Thomas George Greenwell (1894–1967), Con. M.P. The Hartlepools 1943–45; Chairman, Northern Counties Area 1946–48; High Sheriff, Co. Durham 1951–52; Chairman, N.E. Coast Ship Repairers Assoc. 1937–40.