Catalogue Number
NMLH.2001.20.477
Object Name
Photograph
Title
The King George VI And His War Cabinet In The Grounds Of Buckingham Palace.
Place
Buckingham Palace grounds & London & England & UK
People
Bevin, Ernest; King George VI; Attlee, Clement; Churchill, Winston; Eden, Anthony; Morison, Herbert
Events
War & World War II
Date
1944-1945
Description
King George VI, centre, Winston Churchill and the coalition War Cabinet in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, 3rd August 1944, incorporating members of all the political parties. Churchill was a member of the Conservative Party, though originally he had been a Liberal. With crisis facing Britain a mere five months into World War II, and the Dunkirk evacuation looming, the King asked Churchill, aged 65, to form a government. As Prime minister, his stirring rhetoric, employed in many famed speeches during the war, was seen as representing the spirit of wartime Britain. Churchill stands fourth from the right.
At Churchill's left is the Conservative party figure, Anthony Eden, former Foreign secretary, who resigned because of the appeasement towards Hitler by Churchill's predecessor, Neville Chamberlain. The Labour figures are: first left, Herbert Morrison; far right, the former Bristol carter, Ernest Bevin; at the King's right, Clement Attlee, leader of the Labour Party.
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