DEFENCE MINISTER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 64, 16 March 1936, Page 7

DEFENCE MINISTER

BRITISH APPOINTMENT SIR THOMAS INSKIP A COMPLETE SURPRISE LONDON, March 13. Sir Thomas Inskip has been appointed Defence Minister. The appointment was a complete surprise. Sir Thomas Inskip will take up his duties immediately and will have a seat in Cabinet, his title being Minister for Co-ordination of (Defence. He will exercise daily control over the Committee of Imperial Defence and will be responsible for the speeding up plans and consultations between Chiefs of Staff. Sir Thomas Inskip has had a not aide political career, and since 1922, whenever his party has been in cfiice, he has been in an important post. Sir Thomas entered the House - f Commons in 1918, being elected by Brist-d Central Division, and his decision Io embark on a political career followed on appointments in the legal field. He bad taken silk in 1914, twelve years after he was called to the Bar, and in 1920 was made Chancellor of the Diocese o.f Truro. In 1918 he was hen ! of the Naval Law Branch of the Admiralty, and in 1918-19 was Adin.ra.ty representative on the War Crimes Commission. When Mr. Bonar ],aw formed lis Government in 1922 he chose Sir Thomas Inskip as Solicitor-Gene:al, and when Sir Douglas Hogg was elevated to the House of Lords, Sir Thomas succeeded to the post of Attor-ney-General. ’Die Government wen* out of office, but in 1931 he became Solicitor-General on'ce more. The following year he was again appointed Attorney-General. He is now 59 years old, and is possessed of a massive personality, great industry which has gained for him the reputation of legal soundness, profound evangelical convictions, a care and anxiety in preparation of a case which has led tc his every utterance in the House being invested with the force of thorough sincerity, and a shade of idealism which is possibly unusual in membs’s of the Bar. Sir Thomas has achieved many things which he set out for, notably ‘he Parliamentary defeat of the Prayer Book measure in 192". A number of times he has taken the field for the Government in matters outside his province, one of them being during the debate on the Trade Unions measure of several e-yars ago. He was born in Bristol, his father being a wellknown solicitor in that city, and he married Lady Augusta Boyle, widow of the late Mr. Charles Orr-Ewing, M.P.. and daughter of the seventh Ea.l o" GkexQow.

•GROTESQUE” COMMENT ON APPOINTMENT Received March 15, 11.55 p.m. LONDON, March 15. The Solicitor-General, 31 r. Donald Somervill, succeeds Sir Thomas Inskip as Attorney-General. The Commoner, Air. T. .1. O’Connor, succeeds Air. Somervill. Sir Austen Chamberlain and Air. Winston Churchill both spoke at Birmingham, Sir Austen expressing the regret of many Commoners that Mr. Churchill had not been made Defence Alinistcr. Air. Churchill sat expressionless and declined subsequent comment. Sir Thomas Inskip, speaking at Southampton, said he was aware that his appointment had caused surprise, but he declared that he was not Minister of Defence, his duty being to coordinate the defence measures. Lord Strabolgi, interviewed, regarded the appointment as grotesque and declared that a lawyer wasn't the man for the job.”