The Confidence of the House: May 1940

This is the story of two days of debate in the House of Commons in May 1940, and what came after in consequence. It is the story of Mr Speaker. It is the story, also, of the Chief Whip, attempting to discharge his duty as the stars in their courses fought against him. It is the story as well of the Government Front Bench, of the Prime Minister and the First Lord, Winston Churchill; and of the backbenchers, wise and foolish, of all parties and of none, who defended or rebelled against the Government or sought to bring it down in Opposition. Yet it remains above all the story of the House of Commons. It is the story of how, in a time of apparent terrible efficiency in the dictatorships of Europe, the muddled procedures and privileges of the House vindicated themselves, and of how, even in grave peril, no Government can carry on save with GMW Wemyss, co-author of the acclaimed centenary history of the enquiries in Britain and America, here reissues his classic account of the fall of the Chamberlain government and the ascension of Churchill. Attlee, Admiral Keyes, Sir Archie Sinclair, Macmillan, Amery, and Duff Cooper all play their brave parts in Parliament's great drama, on the eve of Hitler's invasion of France: this is history in the grand manner, after Churchill's own heart.