Leslie Hore-Belisha was born in Devonport in 1893. Educated at Clifton
College and Oxford University he served
as a major in the British Army during
the First World War.
Hore-Belisha,
a member of the Liberal Party, worked as
a journalist and lawyer before entering the House
of Commons for Devonport in 1923.
In
1931 Hore-Belisha supported James Ramsay
MacDonald and
the National Government and became chairman of the National Liberal
Party. MacDonald rewarded Hore-Belisha by appointing him Financial
Secretary of the Treasury. In 1934 he became Minister of Transport.
He successfully reduced the number of road accidents by introducing
Belisha becons at pedestrian crossings, a new highway code and driving
tests for motorists.
In
1937 Neville Chamberlain appointed
Hore-Belisha as Secretary of State for War. This was a controversial
decision as the former holder of the post, Alfred
Duff Cooper, was popular with the British armed forces. Hore-Belisha
introduced a series of reforms to improve recruitment. Pay and promotion
prospects were improved for all ranks, together with more generous
pensions. He also introduced modernised barracks with showers and
recreation rooms. Married men over the age of twenty-one were now
allowed to live with their families.
Hore-Belisha
upset the Army Council by replacing three senior members with younger
and more flexible men. He also upset Neville
Chamberlain by
suggesting the introduction of military conscription during his negotiations
with Adolf Hitler in 1938. His attempts
to persuade Chamberlain to rapidly increase spending on the armed
forces was also unsuccessful.
In the House
of Commons the Conservative Party
MP Archibald
Ramsay was the
main critic of having Jews in the government. In 1938 he began a campaign
to have Hore-Belisha sacked as Secretary of War. In one speech on
27th April he warned that Hore-Belisha "will lead us to war with
our blood-brothers of the Nordic race in order to make way for a Bolshevised
Europe."
Hore-Belisha
had a poor relationship with General John Gort,
Chief of the Imperial General Staff. By the outbreak of the Second
World War the two men were not on speaking terms.
In May 1939 Archibald
Ramsay founded
a secret society called the Right-Club.
This was an attempt to unify all the different right-wing groups in
Britain. In his autobiography The Nameless
War Ramsay argued: "The main object of the secret
society was to oppose and expose the activities of Organized Jewry...
Our first objective was to clear the Conservative Party of Jewish
influence." Ramsay continued his campaign against Hore-Belisha
and even distributed in Parliament free copies of right-wing magazines
that included articles attacking the Secretary of War.
Neville
Chamberlain
eventually decided to remove Hore-Belisha as Secretary of State for
War and appoint him as Minister of Information. Lord
Halifax objected,
claiming that it was "inappropriate to have a Jew in charge of
publicity." In January 1940 Hore-Belisha was sacked as Secretary
of State for War.
In
1945 Winston Churchill appointed Hore-Belisha
as Minister of National Insurance. However, he lost office when the
Labour Party won the 1945
General Election. Leslie Hore-Belisha, who lost his seat in the
election, died in 1957.
(1)
Henry
(Chips) Channon,
diary entry (28th May, 1936)
The
sensation of the reshuffle is sending Leslie Belisha to the War Office,
which is a staggering appointment and will make or mar his career.
Personally, I think he will be successful. His flamboyant personality,
his application, his unstinting energy ought to help him and, after
all, even if he is a failure, we can cart him, for he is not Conservative,
whereas Duff Cooper is.
(2)
Herbert
Morrison, An
Autobiography (1960)
Leslie Hore-Belisha, another Liberal National and former
Minister of Transport, who had been appointed Secretary of State for
War during the half-hearted revival of our defences when a European
war seemed almost inevitable, did not get on very well with Chamberlain
on personal grounds. It was also said that he was on occasion difficult
to find when he was needed by the cabinet or at the War Office.
Hore-Belisha's greatest
fault in his colleagues' eyes was that he had methods and a mind of
his own in administration. He did not hesitate to set aside the advice
of the generals when he thought it was wrong. There are people who
think he was often right when he disagreed with the generals and who
have considerable respect for his work as War Minister. He certainly
had ability.
(3)
Henry
(Chips) Channon,
diary entry (6th
January, 1940)
What is the truth of what happened? There has been an anti-Belisha
faction in the House, in the War Office and in the Army for some time.
His mania for publicity, his courting of public favour, and his democratic
methods of re-organising the Army have made him many enemies: every
place seeker disappointed in his hopes, everyone refused a commission,
and most of the upper-classes who saw their sons serving in the ranks,
were against him: but he went blindly and blandly on with his reforms...
Then a cabal was formed of people on the General Staff - but they
could think of no way to oust him until they hit on the brilliant
idea of roping in, of all
people, the Duke of Gloucester, as a professional soldier. He took
up the cause and told his brother the King. The Crown decided to intervene
dramatically, and sent for the PM... The PM startled by the King's
complaint, gave in and that turned the scales. Hitherto, the PM, though
aware of the movement, had supported Leslie. On Thursday he sent for
him to come to No. 10 - and Leslie, unsuspecting went: they had a
long talk during which the PM asked Leslie to accept the Board of
Trade. Belisha was staggered, and asked why (evidently he had not
believed my too-mildly-worded warning). Then he was told, as gently
as the PM could do it, that he must go. Leslie demanded an hour in
which to make up his mind, and went for a walk in St James's Park.
He could hardly believe what he had been told, and was, of course,
quite unaware of the Royal intervention. Later he refused the offer
of the Board of Trade and made it plain that he would never serve
under Chamberlain in any capacity again, because he no longer trusted
him. How could he ever be sure that the PM would not throw him over
again ? There was some bitterness, but no actual scene, and Belisha
agreed not to make a statement, not to attack the Government.
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