Phoney War - Change of British Government

Change of British Government

The debacle of the Allied campaign in Norway, which actually was an offspring of the never-realised plans to aid Finland, forced a famous debate in the House of Commons during which the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was under constant attack. A nominal vote of confidence in his government was won by 281 to 200, but many of Chamberlain′s supporters had voted against him while others had abstained. Chamberlain found it impossible to continue to lead a National Government or to form a government of national unity (in Britain often called a "coalition government", to distinguish it from Chamberlain's existing national government) around himself. On 10 May Chamberlain resigned the premiership whilst retaining the leadership of the Conservative Party. The King—George VI—appointed Winston Churchill—who had been a consistent opponent of Chamberlain′s policy of appeasement—as his successor, and Churchill formed a new coalition government that included members of the Conservative Party, the Labour Party and the Liberal Party as well as several ministers from a non-political background.

Read more about this topic:  Phoney War

Famous quotes containing the words change, british and/or government:

    The higher the mountain on which you stand, the less change in the prospect from year to year, from age to age. Above a certain height there is no change.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Comes from a fine family. So she tells me. Brother’s a priest, all that. But, you know, death, disaster, unfortunate investments. One day she’s a little princess, up on the hill. Next, she’s down there, working the bars for the best she can.
    Peter Prince, British screenwriter, and Stephen Frears. Harry (Bill Hunter)

    I wish my countrymen to consider that whatever the human law may be, neither an individual nor a nation can ever commit the least act of injustice against the obscurest individual without having to pay the penalty for it. A government which deliberately enacts injustice, and persists in it, will at length even become the laughing-stock of the world.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)