CHANGES APPROVED

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 103, 3 May 1941, Page 9

CHANGES APPROVED

BRITISH CABINET

THE BIG SURPRISE

SHIPPING MINISTRY

LONDON, May' 1. The changes in the Cabinet reflect the determination of the Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, to impart the utmost power and drive to the war effort. Lord Beaverbrook, it is believed, virtually becomes Deputy Prime Minister with the 'duty of concentrating: on the direction of. general policy, particularly on the home front. , Mr.. Churchill himself will remain in control of war strategy while Lord Beaverbrook directs the general field of production, the maximum utilisation of man-power and woman-power, and the co-ordination of the Ministries concerned. Colonel J. J. Llewellin becomes Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, and Mr. F. Montague Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Aircraft Production. When Lord Beaverbrook joined the War Cabinet it. was implicit that he would remain at the Aircraft Production Ministry only till ..production had reached a satisfactory level. That has now happened, releasing Lord Beaverbrook for wider duties. WAR COMMUNICATIONS. ; The amalgamation for the purposes of the war of the Shipping and Transport Departments under Mr. Leathers (who becomes a baron) will be effected forthwith and certain functions of the Ministry of Transport only remotely connected with, communications will, if desirable, be transferred to the Board of Trade or other Departments. The combined Ministry, when the process of amalgamation is completed, will become the Ministry of Wartime Communications. . • The "Daily Telegraph" says that the big surprise is the appointment of Mr. Leathers. He is little known in the political world but is a leading 'authority on dock problems. THe combination of the two Ministries will simplify the speeding up of and the turn-round of shipping. Members of Parliament have long urged that the Minister of Shipping should have more power to co-ordinate the authorities concerned with the loading and discharging of ships. NEAR DESIRED SHAPE. The "Daily Mail" says .the War Cabinet is gradually evolving nearer the shape which many Parliamentarians consider necessary—a number of Ministers free from Departmental responsibility and able to diraet their complete energies to "major war plaruiihg. Mr. Attlee, Mr. Greenwood, and Sir John Anderson have been largely released from Whitehall tasks for general directive work. The "Daily Mail," in a leader, says: "Mr. Churchill has responded to the desire of the nation. We have arrived at the point where new men obviously have become necessary for the more efficient conduct of the war. Mr. Churchill has replanned the Ministry on highly constructive lines. He has partially admitted the idea of a Supreme War Cabinet composed of men not harassed by Departmental duties. "Lord Beaverbrook, whose title is unique in British' history; will devote his time to the general direction of war policy. He has been one of the big successes of the Government. He has stimulated every Department of aircraft output. He leaves the Ministry with Britain well on the way to air supremacy. "The telescoping of the Shipping and Transport Ministries," the paper adds, "is a sound move which could with advantage have been taken before. There is no room in the movement of goods for two sets of officials competing and overlapping each other."—U.P.A.

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