NEWS OF ARMISTICE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22610, 29 June 1935, Page 14

NEWS OF ARMISTICE

LLOYD GEORGE'S ROLE An attack on Mr Lloyd George Is contained in Lady Wester Wemyss's "The Life and Letters of Lord Wester Wemyss, Admiral of the Fleet." Lord Wemyss was present with Marsha] Foch as British representative nt the signing of the Armistice, and he personally telephoned the news to the King. It is asserted in the book that Mr Lloyd George was 60 angry at this that when Lord Wemyss attended the War Cabinet on his return to England he was " met with black looks and an icy reception." The book continues: — "It was only on leaving the Cabinet that he was to discover the key to this enigma. The Prime Minister had apparently planned a spectacular announcement of the Armistice which he hoped to make at the Guildhall banquet on November 9. Balked of this by the Armistice not yet having been signed, he projected doing so in the House of Commons on the afternoon of November 11—the news being meanwhile kept secret. "This proved impossible after Wemyss telephoned to the King, who had announced the happy tidings to his entourage. The Armistice was accordingly made public at 11 a.m. Popular enthusiasm concentrated at Buckingham Palace —while his official statement in the House of Commons fell flat; hence his almost unconcealed fury. "Wemyss shrugged his shoulders; the whole matter appeared to him so incredibly petty. Indeed, he could hardly have believed it had it not been vouched for by two unimpeachable authorities." Mr Lloyd George made the following statement at Churt: — "No one who takes the trouble to look into the facts of the fateful November 11, 1918, would reprint this preposterous story. The Armistice was signed at 5 o'clock in the morning, and everyone throughout the world knew of it as soon as tliey woke. "The suggestion is that I meant to keep the news from the public for 10 hours in order to have the satisfaction of announcing it myself in the House of Commons at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. It is so silly a tale that I am amazed that any responsible person should think it worth while printing." Mr Lloyd George stated at the Lord Mayor's banquet on November 9, 1918, " The issue is settled," but the public first received news of the actual signing of the Armistice at 11 a.m. on November 11, when official notices were posted outside public buildings and maroons were fired.