24 JANUARY 1941, Page 3

He went so far as to say that a Minister

of Defence who was neither Prime Minister nor in fact Head of the three Service departments would be powerless. So much for Ministers of Co-ordination of Defence. The new Executives were simply an extension of an old and tried device, the Cabinet Committee. It was a wise economy of time when Ministers could bring the consenting contribution of their various departments to the Council table. This sounds like common sense. It would appear that Sir John Anderson is nevertheless the nearest thing to a Deputy-Prime Minister, by the fact of his position as the supreme Chairman of all the other Chairmen.

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