of praise for the kind and magnanimous conduct of the Finnish government in every
crisis of its history from 1917, but nothing was said about the Finnish war, nor was there
any mention of Allied aid.
During this period the Milner Group became increasingly impatient with the
Chamberlain group. This was clear from the June 1940 issue of The Round Table, which
criticized the Cabinet reshuffle of April as evoking"almost universal derision." It also
criticized Chamberlain's failure to include able members of his own party in the Cabinet.
This may have been a reference to Amery's continued exclusion. The article said: "This
lack of imagination and courage could be seen in almost every aspect of the Chamberlain
Government's conduct of the war." It excluded Simon and Hoare as possible prime
ministers, on the ground that they were too close to Chamberlain. It was probably
thinking of Halifax as prime minister, but, when the time came, others thought him, also,
to be too closely associated with appeasement. On the crucial day, 8 May 1940, the
Group was badly split. In fact, on the division that preceded Chamberlain's resignation,
Lady Astor voted against the government, while her brother-in-law, John Jacob Astor,
voted with the government. The debate was one of the most bitter in recent history and
reached its high point when Amery cried out to the Government benches the words of
Cromwelclass="underline" "You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say,
and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!" In the ensuing division, the
whips were on with a vengeance, but the government's majority was only 81, more than a
hundred Conservatives abstaining from voting. Most of the Milner Group members, since
they held offices in the government, had to vote with it. Of the inner core, only Amery
and Lady Astor broke away. In the majority, still supporting Chamberlain, were J. J.
Astor, Grigg, Hoare, Malcolm MacDonald, Salter, Simon' and Somervell. But the fight
had been too bitter. Chamberlain was replaced by Churchill, and Amery came to office
(as Secretary of State for India). Once again the Milner Group and the government were
united on the issues. Both, from 8 May 1940, had only one aim: to win the war with
Germany.
Chapter 13—The Second World War, 1939-1945
The Milner Group played a considerable role in the Second World War, not scattered
throughout the various agencies associated with the great struggle, but concentrated in
four or five chief fiefs. Among these were: (1) the Research and Intelligence Department
of the Foreign Office; (2) the British Embassy in Washington; (3) the Ministry of
Information; and (4) those agencies concerned with economic mobilization and economic
reconstruction. Considering the age of most of the inner core of the Milner Group during
the Second World War (the youngest, Lothian, was 57 in 1939; Hichens was 65; Brand
was 61; Dawson was 65; and Curtis was 67), they accomplished a great deal. Unable, in
most cases, to serve themselves, except in an advisory capacity, they filled their chief
fiefs with their younger associates. In most cases, these were recruited from All Souls,
but occasionally they were obtained elsewhere.
We have already indicated how the Research and Press Department of Chatham
House was made into the Research and Intelligence Department bf the Foreign Office, at
first unofficially and then officially. This was dominated by Lionel Curtis and Arnold
Toynbee, the latter as director of the department for the whole period 1939-1946. Others
who were associated with this activity were B. H. Sumner (Warden of All Souls), C. A.
Macartney, A. E. Zimmern, J. W. Wheeler-Bennett, and most of the paid staff from
Chatham House. Zimmern was deputy director in 1943-1945, and Wheeler-Bennett was
deputy director in 1945.
Of even greater significance was the gathering of Milner Group members and their
recruits in Washington. The Group had based most of their foreign policy since 1920 on
the hope of "closer union" with the United States, and they realized that American
intervention in the war was absolutely essential to insure a British victory. Accordingly,
more than a dozen members of the Group were in Washington during the war, seeking to
carry on this policy.
Lord Lothian was named Ambassador to the United States as soon as the war began. It
was felt that his long acquaintance with the country and the personal connections built up
during almost fifteen years as Rhodes Secretary more than counteracted his intimate
relationship with the notorious Cliveden Set, especially as this latter relationship was
unknown to most Americans. On Lothian's unexpected and lamented death in December
1940, the position in Washington was considered to be of such crucial importance that
Lord Halifax was shifted to the vacant post from the Foreign Office. He retained his
position in the War Cabinet. Thus the post at Washington was raised to a position which
no foreign legation had ever had before. Lord Halifax continued to hold the post until
1946, a year after the war was actually finished. During most of the period, he was
surrounded by members of the Milner Group, chiefly Fellows of All Souls, so that it was
almost impossible to turn around in the British Embassy without running into a member
of that select academic circle. The most important of these were Lord Brand, Harold
Butler, and Arthur Salter.
Lord Brand was in America from March 1941 to May 1946, as head of the British
Food Mission for three years and as representative of the British Treasury for two years.
He was also chairman of the British Supply Council in North America in 1942 and again
in 1945-1946. He did not resign his position as managing director of Lazard Brothers
until May 1944. Closely associated with Brand was his protege, Adam D. Marris, son of
Sir William Marris of the Kindergarten, who was employed at Lazard Brothers from
1929 to the outbreak of war, then spent a brief period in the Ministry of Economic
Warfare in London. In 1940 he came to the Embassy in Washington, originally as First
Secretary, later as Counselor. After the war he was, for six months, secretary general of
the Emergency Economic Committee for Europe. In February 1946 he returned to Lazard
Brothers.
Harold Butler (Sir Harold since 1946) came to Washington in 1942 with the rank of
minister. He stayed for four years, being chiefly concerned with public relations. Sir
Arthur Salter, who married a Washington lady in 1940, came to America in 1941 as head
of the British Merchant Shipping Mission. He stayed until UNRRA was set up early in
1944, when he joined the new organization as Senior Deputy Director General. A year
later he joined the Cabinet as Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster. Sir Arthur was well
qualified as a shipping expert, having been engaged intermittently in government
shipping problems since he left Brasenose College in 1904. His close personal relations
with Lord Halifax went back to an even earlier period, when they both were students at
Oxford.
Among the lesser persons who came to Washington during the war, we should
mention four members of All Souls: I. Berlin, J. G. Foster, R. M. Makins, and J. H. A.
Sparrow. Isaiah Berlin, one of the newer recruits to the Milner Group, made his way into
this select circle by winning a Fellowship to All Souls in 1932, the year after he
graduated from Corpus Christi. Through this connection, he became a close friend of Mr.
and Mrs. H. A. L. Fisher and has been a Fellow and Tutor of New College since 1938. In
1941 he came to New York to work with J. W. Wheeler-Bennett in the Ministry of