There seems to be no special disposition to criticise the
Ministry in general or the Admiralty in particular. It is generally felt that, in conditions of low visibility, it was practically impossible to prevent a few individual German vessels making their way to Norwegian ports. Nevertheless, the effect of these happenings on our domestic politics is likely to be considerable. Almost certainly less will be heard of complaints arising from the minor discomforts and inconveniences occasioned by the war. There is also likely to be an intensified demand for a genuine reorganisation of the Government. It is argued that even Mr. Churchill cannot be expected to sit for long hours in the War Cabinet while at the same time directing the day-to-day and hour-to- hour operations of his department. Many of those who sat through the Finnish debate have retained the impression that there was unnecessary slowness in coming to important decisions. Now it is clear that such delay must at all costs be avoided, and the demand, so frequently reiterated by Sir Archibald Sinclair and others, for a small War Cabinet, freed from departmental duties, is rapidly growing.
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