Major Reshuffle Of U.K. Cabinet Soon

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29263, 22 July 1960, Page 15

Major Reshuffle Of U.K. Cabinet Soon

< Special Correspondent N.ZP.A.) (Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, July 21. Changes in the British Cabinet are expected to be announced next week, probably on July 29, the day before Parliament adjourns for the summer recess, as a result of the decision of Mr Derek Heathcoat Amory, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to retire a - decision that has caused Mr Macmillan to make a major reshuffle of his Ministers.

Speculation has been going on for several weeks about who is to succeed Mr Amory as Chancellor and who will fill the other major posts.

While political correspondents almost to a man forecast that Mr Selwyn Lloyd will move to the Treasury, there is far less unanimity about who will succeed him at the Foreign Office. Names mentioned include Mr Duncan Sandys, the Minister of Aviation, Mr lain Macleod, the Colonial Secretary, and Mr Edward Heath, the Minister of Labour.

The latest forecast by the political correspondent of the “Guardian” is that Lord Home, Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, will become Foreign Secretary. This is something of a surprise, for although it was expected that Lord Home would move from the Commonwealth Relations Office after a stay there of five years, it was believed he would become chairman of the Scottish Unionists. The “Guardian" says it would be a bold stroke if Mr Macmillan were to follow Mr Neville Chamberlain's example and place the Foreign Secretary in the House of Lords, “but Mr Macmillan likes a large flourish and he could try to placate the House

of Commons, as Mr Chamberlain did, by promising to deal with major questions of foreign policy himself. In fact, he does so already, as his statement in his letter to Mr Khrushchev showed so plainly. The more one considers this ppssible solution of Mr Macmillan’s problem of finding a successor to Mr Lloyd the more probable it seems.

“Lord - Home has, for many months now, been an influential members of the Cabinet. He was chosen by Mr Macmillan as Leader of the House of Lords when Lord Salisbury resigned over Cyprus. He has an air of detachment and authority which advertises the security of his standing in the Government. "It is. of course, an offence to the House of Commons to be robbed of the presence of the Foreign Secretary,” the paper adds. “When Mr Chamberlain appointed the late Lord Halifax to succeed Sir Anthony Eden in 1938, he was bitterly criticised by the Opposition, and he was obliged to announce that he would himself take the responsibility for the major foreign affairs business in the House of Commons Che would have done so in any case). “In practice, Mr Macmillan already does this.”