(2 of 4)
Nor were dejected Britons bucked up by his gloomy forecast that the Nazis "are prepared and would not scruple to invade Holland, Belgium or both. Or it may be that their savage hordes will be hurled against their innocent neighbors in the southeast of Europe. They might well do more than one of these things in preparation for an attempt at large-scale attack on the western portion of this country."
"The British Can Take It." Promised a full-dress debate in Parliament this week, the British public was divided at the weekend into two groups : those who insisted "Chamberlain must go," and those who declared, "Chamberlain can stay but he must DO SOMETHING." Spokesman of the Chamberlain-must-go group was Laborite Herbert Morrison, M. P. and able Leader of the London County Council, who publicly demanded the scalps of the Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir John Simon and Air Secretary
Sir Samuel Hoare. "I have a suspicion," he declared before a Labor Party Regional Conference at Southampton, "that these three men are primarily responsible for the relative weakness of our war effort. I urge them to consider whether their best service to the country would not be by way of resignation."
Irked by the namby-pamby utterances of Cabinet members, particularly the Lord President of the Council, Earl Stanhope, Laborite Morrison flew into a fair frenzy, shouting: "The efforts of that ministerial misfit, Lord Stanhope, to turn the Norwegian withdrawal into something like a victory is typical irresponsibility based on the assumption that the British can't take it. Well, the British can take it, even if His Lordship can't."
"Faulty, feeble and foolish," was World War Prime Minister Lloyd George's comment on the Chamberlain policy. "All the foresight and striking power in diplomacy and in strategy are on the side of the Nazis," he declared, "all the blunders, the ineptitude, the slackness on the part of the Allies."
"Chamberlain's capacity for self-delusion is a national danger," fumed the Manchester Guardian. "If Parliament does its duty next week, perhaps even Mr. Chamberlain may be brought to understand that we cannot and will not go on in this way." Reports that naval chiefs had insisted upon an immediate bold attack on Trondheim before the Germans had their big guns set up but had been prevented by the Cabinet for reasons of caution did little to soothe rising tempers.
More serious to the Government than the hue & cry of the opposition were indications that its nominal supporters were fed up with the shilly-shallying war policy hitherto pursued and were about to bolt from the ranks. "What we want is a real War Cabinet with someone at the top who can decide a question. . . . We are meandering and muddling through the war making excuses and boasting," criticized Government Supporter Clement Davies, M. P. In fine English sarcasm he assured Mr. Chamberlain that if Hitler had missed the bus, it was because he "too often takes a taxi."