With the hung parliament currently in the UK, I was mentioning to someone the discussions that went on that day. This probably was the last time the UK monarch choose a prime minister (the appointment of Home notwithstanding). In effect, the King was deciding whether or not to continue the war. Had he chosen Halifax, the war would have been over, at least for a time. It probably would have been a popular move as Britain would have been uninvaded and unattacked, with its army rescued and its navy and air force still whole.
I love reading some of the political goings on. After the no confidence vote, which Chamberlain survived but many Tories voted with the opposition, the Tory establishment was in an uproar. One of the dissenting Tories was a young army office named John Profumo. After voting, he went off for a night of drinking but early the next morning he was called into the office of David Margesson, Tory whip. In what has to go down with "You won't have Nixon to kick around any more", Margesson finished an expletive laced diatribe with one of the worst political predictions in history -- "On every morning that you wake up for the rest of your life you will be ashamed of what you did last night." That was on May 9, 1940. Regards, Anthony From: chateaustegosau...@att.net To: churchillchat@googlegroups.com; churchillchat@googlegroups.com CC: san...@churchillsbritainfoundation.org Subject: Re: [ChurchillChat] Seventy Years Ago Today Date: Tue, 11 May 2010 05:25:17 +0000 You are SO right! That must have been an amazing moment. I figured all Churchillians were already familiar with that, so didn't clutter it up. But it says volumes about both WSC and George VI - all positive. I'm afraid they don't make them like that any more. Jonathan Hayes -------------- Original message from san...@churchillsbritainfoundation.org: -------------- If I may interject an addition to your story, the King greeted my great-grandfather with the statement; "I suppose you don't know why I've summoned you." To which Churchill replied, "Your Majesty, I couldn't possibly imagine." I would have loved to have been there. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry From: chateaustegosau...@att.net Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 19:02:44 +0000 To: <ChurchillChat@googlegroups.com> Subject: [ChurchillChat] Seventy Years Ago Today At six p.m., WSC was asked by King George VI to form a government. He said he would do so. A great moment in history. Jonathan Hayes -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to churchillc...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to churchillchat+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to churchillc...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to churchillchat+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to churchillc...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to churchillchat+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en. _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail has tools for the New Busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_1 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to churchillc...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to churchillchat+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en.
