ID: 1811
Autograph Letter Signed to Lord Beaverbrook.
CHAMBERLAIN, Sir Austen

Category: Autograph Letters/Manuscripts, First World War, History

Place/Publisher/Date:
Barton St. Mary, East Grinstead. 2 March 1918.

Description: Two pages, 4to. Marked 'Sercret File' by Beaverbrook. A fierce attack on LLoyd George's appointment of Newspaper Barons to the newly formed Ministry of Information. Beaverbrook became the first Minister of Information in 1918 in charge of propaganda in allied and neutral countries. In this letter Chamberlain makes both his spoken and unspoken objections clear, as also his general fears for the independence of the Press ('...My publicly stated objection was to such a connection between the Govt & the Press as destroys the independence of the Press & involves the Govt in responsibility for all the opinions expressed in the Press...My further objections, not publicly stated in my speech, are to any attempt to "nobble" the Press by ministerial appointments & to subterranean intrigue with the Press through subordinate agents against servants of the Crown or public men...'). '...You are good enough to recognise my sincerity. I spoke as a public duty -- not a pleasant one -- & as a well wisher on public grounds to the present Administration. Their friends may under existing conditions endure, but they will not forgive, persistence in a course of action which independent public opinion so unanimously condemns. I hope that in my speech & by my silence & inaction since, I have avoided anything in word or deed which would make it more difficult for the Prime Minister or his friends to meet public opinion & satisfy the public conscience...' 'There was already, in the wake of Asquith's fall, much disquiet in political circles about what was seen as the sinister advance of the power of the press and the influence of press lords; now disquiet became loud hostility and alarm, especially on the Conservative side' (Anne Chisholm and Michael Davie, Beaverbrook, A Life, 1992, pp. 156-158). Austen Chamberlain led the attack in the Commons, claiming that the goverment 'have surrounded themselves quite unnecessarily with an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust because they have allowed themselves to become too intimately associated with these great newspaper proprietors', and urging the Prime Minister to 'make things quite clear, open and plain to all the world and sever this connection with the newspapers.' On the same day, the Unionist War Committee (the Conservative and Unionist Party's war policy group) resolved that 'no one who controls a newspaper should be allowed to be a member of the Government or to hold a responsible post under it so long as he retains control of that newspaper.' Lord Milner wrote to Lloyd George: '... there really is more stir about this than I have yet known in any of these purely domestic rows...The less people hear or see of Northcliffe, Beaverbrook (certainly the most unpopular name of all) etc. for the next few weeks the better.' Beaverbrook seriously considered resigning, but took Tim Healy's advice 'Don't resign; wait until you're sacked.' After Austen Chamberlain himself accepted a post in the War Cabinet from Lloyd George the fuss died down. (Chisholm and Davies, op cit, pp. 157-158). Fine, filing holes and tape light tape marks to one corner.

Price £1,000.00