The Cabinet Shuffle The Ministerial changes announced on April 21st
seem to testify to a fixed determination on the part of the Prime Minister not to raise the modest level of ability and distinc- tion in his Cabinet at any cost. Public and Parliamentary opinion impel Mr. Chamberlain to the creation of a Ministry of Supply, but nothing will induce him to do what public and Parliamentary opinion were equally unanimous in de- manding—put it under Mr. Churchill and give it a scope worthy of Mr. Churchill's capacities. Instead, the Ministry is to serve the Army only, and Dr. Burgin, who has shown his competence at the Ministry of Transport, will no doubt be perfectly competent to discharge the irrationally limited task now entrusted to him. So Mr. Churchill and Mr. Eden and Mr. Hudson remain outside the Cabinet—in a first- class crisis that is evidently thought to be the right place for first-class abilities—and Captain Euan Wallace goes inside. In Australia the new Prime Minister, Mr. Menzies, has not only created a new Ministry of Supply but thought the post sufficiently important to allocate to it a Minister, Mr. R. G. Casey, who has hitherto held the responsible position of Commonwealth Treasurer. There may be some- thing in the rumours that a position combining opportunity with responsibility is in store for Mr. Churchill. Nothing else could excuse his exclusion from an administration that so urgently needs the qualities he could bring to it.
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