Lord Beaverbrook
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William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (25 May 1879 – 9 June 1964), generally known as Lord Beaverbrook, was a Canadian-British newspaper publisher and backstage politician who was an influential figure in British media and politics of the first half of the 20th century. His base of power was the largest circulation newspaper in the world, the ''
Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...
'', which appealed to the conservative working class with intensely patriotic news and editorials. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, he played a major role in mobilising industrial resources as Winston Churchill's
Minister of Aircraft Production The Minister of Aircraft Production was, from 1940 to 1945, the British government minister at the Ministry of Aircraft Production, one of the specialised supply ministries set up by the British Government during World War II. It was responsible ...
. The young Max Aitken had a gift for making money and was a millionaire by 30. His business ambitions quickly exceeded opportunities in Canada and he moved to Britain. There he befriended
Bonar Law Andrew Bonar Law ( ; 16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923. Law was born in the British colony of New Brunswick (now a ...
and with his support won a seat in the House of Commons at the
December 1910 United Kingdom general election The December 1910 United Kingdom general election was held from 3 to 19 December. It was the last general election to be held over several days and the last to be held before the First World War. The election took place following the efforts of ...
. A knighthood followed shortly after. During the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
he ran the Canadian Records office in London, and played a role in the removal of H. H. Asquith as prime minister in 1916. The resulting
coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
(with
David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...
as prime minister and Bonar Law as
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
) rewarded Aitken with a peerage and, briefly, a Cabinet post as
Minister of Information An information minister (also called minister of information) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with information matters; it is often linked with censorship and propaganda. Sometimes the position is given to ...
. After the war, the now Lord Beaverbrook concentrated on his business interests. He built the ''Daily Express'' into the most successful mass-circulation newspaper in the world, with sales of 2.25 million copies a day across Britain. He used it to pursue personal campaigns, most notably for
tariff reform The Tariff Reform League (TRL) was a protectionist British pressure group formed in 1903 to protest against what they considered to be unfair foreign imports and to advocate Imperial Preference to protect British industry from foreign competitio ...
and for the
British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
to become a
free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...
bloc. Beaverbrook supported the governments of
Stanley Baldwin Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, (3 August 186714 December 1947) was a British Conservative Party politician who dominated the government of the United Kingdom between the world wars, serving as prime minister on three occasions, ...
and
Neville Chamberlain Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasemen ...
throughout the 1930s and was persuaded by another long-standing political friend,
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
, to serve as his Minister of Aircraft Production from May 1940. Churchill later praised his "vital and vibrant energy". He resigned due to ill-health in 1941 but later in the war was appointed
Lord Privy Seal The Lord Privy Seal (or, more formally, the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal) is the fifth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and abov ...
. Beaverbrook spent his later life running his newspapers, which by then included the ''
Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...
'' and the ''Sunday Express''. He served as Chancellor of the
University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Americ ...
and developed a reputation as a historian with his books on political and military history.


Early life

Aitken was born in
Maple, Ontario Maple is a neighbourhood in Vaughan, York Region, Ontario, Canada. It is located northwest of Toronto. Maple was founded as the village of Maple, located at the intersection of Major Mackenzie Drive and Keele Street. Geography Maple is located ...
, Canada, in 1879, one of the ten children of William Cuthbert Aitken, a Scottish-born
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
minister, and Jane (Noble), the daughter of a prosperous local farmer and storekeeper. When he was a year old, the family moved to Newcastle, New Brunswick, which Aitken later considered to be his hometown. It was here, at the age of 13, that he set up a school newspaper, ''The Leader''. Whilst at school, he delivered newspapers, sold newspaper subscriptions and was the local correspondent for the ''St John Daily Star''. Aitken took the entrance examinations for
Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...
, but because he had declined to sit the Greek and Latin papers he was refused entry. He registered at the King's College Law School, but left after a short while. This was to be his only formal higher education. Aitken worked in a shop, then borrowed some money to move to
Chatham, New Brunswick Chatham is an urban neighbourhood in the city of Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada. Prior to municipal amalgamation in 1995, Chatham was an incorporated town in Northumberland County along the south bank of the Miramichi River opposite Douglasto ...
, where he worked as a local correspondent for the ''
Montreal Star ''The Montreal Star'' was an English-language Canadian newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It closed in 1979 in the wake of an eight-month pressmen's strike. It was Canada's largest newspaper until the 1950s and remained the dominan ...
'', sold life insurance and collected debts. Aitken attempted to train as a lawyer and worked for a short time in the law office of R. B. Bennett, a future prime minister of Canada. Aitken managed Bennett's successful campaign for a place on Chatham town council. When Bennett left the law firm, Aitken moved to
Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...
, where he again sold life insurance before moving to
Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
where he helped to run Bennett's campaign for a seat in the
legislative assembly of the North-West Territories This is a list of the Northwest Territories Legislative Assemblies dates and legislative sessions from 1870–present. The current capital is Yellowknife since 1967. There have been twenty-seven legislatures since becoming a territory in 1870. ...
in the 1898 general election. After an unsuccessful attempt to establish a meat business, Aitken returned to Saint John and to selling insurance.


Early business career

In 1900, Aitken made his way to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where John F. Stairs, a member of the city's dominant business family, gave him employment and trained him in the business of finance. In 1904, when Stairs launched the
Royal Securities Corporation Royal Securities Corporation Limited was a stock brokerage firm founded in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in early 1903 by John F. Stairs, its first president. The company was the first brokerage firm to be opened east of Montreal, Quebec, the then ...
, Aitken became a minority shareholder and the firm's general manager. Under the tutelage of Stairs, who would be his mentor and friend, Aitken engineered a number of successful business deals and was planning a series of bank mergers. Stairs' unexpected early death in September 1904 led to Aitken acquiring control of the company and moving to
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, then the business capital of Canada. There he bought and sold companies, invested in stocks and shares and also developed business interests in both Cuba and Puerto Rico. He started a weekly magazine, the ''Canadian Century'' in 1910, invested in the ''
Montreal Herald This is a list of defunct newspapers of Quebec. 1770–1799 * ''La Gazette du commerce et littéraire pour la Ville & District de Montréal'', 1778, Montréal, Fleury Mesplet, printer, and Valentin Jautard, editor and journalist * '' La Gazette ...
'' and almost acquired the ''
Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...
''. In 1907 he founded the
Montreal Engineering Company Montreal Engineering Company, later Monenco was a Canadian engineering services company operating in the energy and infrastructure utilities area. The company became an important player in North and Latin American, and elsewhere, such as the fea ...
. In 1909, also under the umbrella of his Royal Securities Company, Aitken founded the Calgary Power Company Limited, now the
TransAlta Corporation TransAlta Corporation (formerly Calgary Power Company, Ltd.) is an electricity power generator and wholesale marketing company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is a privately owned corporation and its shares are traded publicly. It ...
, and oversaw the building of the Horseshoe Falls hydro station. In 1910–1911 Aitken acquired a number of small regional cement plants in Canada, including Sir
Sandford Fleming Sir Sandford Fleming (January 7, 1827 – July 22, 1915) was a Scottish Canadian engineer and inventor. Born and raised in Scotland, he emigrated to colonial Canada at the age of 18. He promoted worldwide standard time zones, a prime meridian, ...
's Western Canada Cement Co. plant at
Exshaw, Alberta Exshaw is a hamlet in Alberta, Canada within Municipal District (MD) of Bighorn No. 8. Located approximately west of downtown Calgary and east of Canmore, Exshaw is situated within the Bow River valley north of the Bow River. The hamlet was ...
, and amalgamated them into Canada Cement, eventually controlling four-fifths of the cement production in Canada. Canada was booming economically at the time, and Aitken had close to a monopoly on the material. There were irregularities in the stock transfers leading to the conglomeration of the cement plants, resulting in much criticism of Aitken, as well as accusations of price-gouging and poor management of the cement plants under his company's control. Aitken sold his shares, making a large amount of money. Aitken had made his first visit to Britain in September 1908, and when he returned there in the spring of 1910, in an attempt to raise money to form a steel company, he decided to make the move permanent, but not before he led the underwriting, with a preponderance of British money, of an amalgamation of smaller units into the
Steel Company of Canada Stelco Holdings Inc. (known as U.S. Steel Canada from 2007 to 2016) is a Canadian steel company based in Hamilton, Ontario. Stelco was founded in 1910 from the amalgamation of several smaller firms. It continued on for almost 100 years, until i ...
. Very shortly later Aitken moved his family to the UK.


Move to Britain

In 1910, Aitken moved to Britain and he became friends with
Bonar Law Andrew Bonar Law ( ; 16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923. Law was born in the British colony of New Brunswick (now a ...
, a native of New Brunswick and the only Canadian to become
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pr ...
. The two men had a lot in common: they were both sons of the
manse A manse () is a clergy house inhabited by, or formerly inhabited by, a minister, usually used in the context of Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and other Christian traditions. Ultimately derived from the Latin ''mansus'', "dwelling", from '' ...
from Scottish-Canadian families and both were successful businessmen. Aitken persuaded Bonar Law to support him in standing for the Unionist Party in the December 1910 general election at
Ashton-under-Lyne Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, east of Manche ...
. Aitken was an excellent organiser and, with plenty of money for publicity, he won the seat by 196 votes. Aitken's "bumptious" election campaign brought him some notoriety. Aitken rarely spoke in the House of Commons, but did promise substantial financial support to the Unionist Party, and in 1911 he was knighted by
King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...
. Aitken's political influence grew when Bonar Law replaced
A.J. Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As foreign secretary in the L ...
as leader of the Unionist party late in 1911. Aitken's demands for a protectionist bloc uniting the British empire made him into a disruptive force in the Conservative and Unionist ranks as the idea of a bloc would mean higher food prices, making the plan unpopular with many segments of the British people who disliked the "food taxes" and "stomach taxes". The great dividing line in British politics were between the Whole Hoggers who were willing to accept higher food prices as the consequences of a protectionist bloc vs. the Free Fooders who were not. Aitken had a financial interest in the supporting the Whole Hoggers as in 1912 he purchased all of the grain terminals in Alberta in the expectation that an Imperial Preference tariffs would soon be enacted as law. Aitken had little to do as an MP, and set about seeking the acceptance of British elites. The British historian Neal Ascherson wrote: "The first is that posh English society was no match for him. He was ‘vulgar’, but there was a charm in his self-promotion which made languid ladies and gentlemen want to be on his side and at his side. He was wildly rich even then, but knew how to use his wealth in hospitality and (discreetly) by rescuing grand friends from awkward debts. Above all, he was fun to be with." In 1911, Aitken was strongly opposed to the reciprocity agreement with the United States signed by the Liberal prime minister of Canada, Sir Wilfried Laurier, which he believed would lead to the American annexation of Canada. As such, Aitken temporarily returned to Canada to vigorously campaign for the Conservatives led by Sir Robert Borden. Aitken had his friend
Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...
intervene in the election on the behalf of the Conservatives. At the time the line between British and English-Canadian national identities were more blurred than today, and Aitken did not regard Kipling as a "foreign" figure. On 7 September 1911, the ''Montreal Daily Star'' (the most widely read newspaper in Canada at the time) published a front-page appeal to all Canadians by Kipling where he wrote: "It is her own soul that Canada risks today. Once that soul is pawned for any consideration, Canada must inevitably conform to the commercial, legal, financial, social and ethical standards which will be imposed on her by the sheer admitted weight of the United States." Kipling's article attracted much attention in Canada and was reprinted in every English-language Canadian newspaper over the following week, where it was credited with helping the Conservatives win the election. Aitken bought Cherkley Court near
Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley District of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Leath ...
and entertained lavishly there. In 1913 the house was offered as a venue for negotiations between Bonar Law and the Prime Minister,
H.H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of ...
, over Ulster and
Irish home rule The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for Devolution, self-government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1 ...
. Later in life Aitken wrote about his early political efforts: Aitken continued to grow his business interests while in Parliament, and also began to build a British newspaper empire. After the death of
Charles Rolls Charles Stewart Rolls (27 August 1877 – 12 July 1910) was a British motoring and aviation pioneer. With Henry Royce, he co-founded the Rolls-Royce car manufacturing firm. He was the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident with ...
in 1910, Aitken bought his shares in
Rolls-Royce Limited Rolls-Royce was a British luxury car and later an aero-engine manufacturing business established in 1904 in Manchester by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's good reputation established with his cranes, they ...
, and over the next two years gradually increased his holding in the company. However,
Claude Johnson Claude Goodman Johnson (24 October 1864 – 12 April 1926) was a British motor vehicle manufacturer who was instrumental in the creation of Rolls-Royce Limited. Johnson described himself as the hyphen in the Rolls-Royce name. When Royce fell ...
, Rolls-Royce's Commercial managing director, resisted his attempt to gain control of the company, and in October 1913 Aitken sold his holding to
James Buchanan Duke James Buchanan Duke (December 23, 1856 – October 10, 1925) was an American tobacco and electric power industrialist best known for the introduction of modern cigarette manufacture and marketing, and his involvement with Duke University. ...
of the
American Tobacco Company The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members of ...
. In January 1911 Aitken secretly invested £25,000 in the failing ''
Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...
''. An attempt to buy the ''
Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...
'' failed, but he did gain control of another London evening paper, '' The Globe''. In November 1916 a share deal worth £17,500, with Lawson Johnson, landed Aitken a controlling interest in the ''Daily Express'', but again he kept the deal secret.


First World War

Due to the outbreak of the First World War, Aitken was able to show off his great organisational skills. He was innovative in the employment of artists, photographers and film makers to record life on the Western Front. Aitken also established the Canadian War Memorials Fund, which evolved into a collection of art works by the premier artists and sculptors in Britain and Canada. In accordance with establishing these works, he also was instrumental in creating the Canadian War Records Office in London and arranged for stories about
Canadian forces } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. ...
appearing in newspapers. His visits to the Western Front, with the honorary rank of
colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
in the
Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...
, resulted in his 1916 book ''Canada in Flanders'', a three-volume collection that chronicled the achievements of Canadian soldiers on the battlefields. Aitken also wrote several books after the war, including ''Politicians and the Press'' in 1925 and ''Politicians and the War'' in 1928. At a time when censorship was extremely strict with British journalists being kept away from the Western Front, Aitken's ‘Eyewitness’ reports from the Western Front, which were published in the Canadian newspapers made him famous. Aitken became increasingly hostile towards the British Prime Minister,
H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...
, whom he considered to be mismanaging the war effort. Aitken's opinion of Asquith did not improve when he failed to get a post in the Cabinet reshuffle of May 1915. An attempt by Bonar Law to secure the
Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...
for Aitken was also blocked by Asquith. After the failure of the Dardanelles campaign,
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
was sacked as the
First Lord of the Admiralty The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...
, and Aitken went to see him to offer him his sympathy. Aitken wrote about Churchill: "The charm, the imaginative sympathy of his hours of defeat, the self-confidence, the arrogance of his hours of power and prosperity". Later, when Churchill went to the Western Front, Aitken allowed him to stay as his guest at his house in
Saint-Omer Saint-Omer (; vls, Sint-Omaars) is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France. It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Saint Audomar, ...
. Ascherson wrote: "A momentous friendship began. In return for contacts and inside information, Aitken would give Churchill hope and energy, and Churchill – in spite of some volcanic quarrels over the next half-century – came to rely on him not only as a political and journalistic ally but as an unfailing source of optimism, gossip, reassurance and sheer fun." Aitken was happy to play a small part, which he greatly exaggerated, as a go-between when Asquith was forced from office and replaced by
David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...
in December 1916. The man Aikten wanted to see replace Asquith was Bonar Law, not Lloyd George. Lloyd George offered to appoint Aitken as
President of the Board of Trade The president of the Board of Trade is head of the Board of Trade. This is a committee of the His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Privy Council of the United Kingdom, first established as a temporary committee of inquiry in the 17th centu ...
. At that time, an MP taking a cabinet post for the first time had to resign and stand for re-election in a by-election. Aitken made arrangements for this, but then Lloyd George decided to appoint
Albert Stanley Albert Stanley may refer to: * Albert Stanley (Liberal politician) (1863–1915), British Member of Parliament, 1907–1915 * Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield (1874–1948), British Conservative MP, Managing Director & Chairman ...
instead. Aitken was a friend of Stanley and agreed to continue with the resignation, so that Stanley could take Aitken's seat in Parliament and be eligible for ministerial office. In return, Aitken received a peerage on 23 January 1917 as the ''1st Baron Beaverbrook'', the name "Beaverbrook" being adopted from a small community near his boyhood home. He had initially considered "Lord Miramichi", but rejected it on the advice of
Louise Manny Louise Elizabeth Manny (1890 – 17 August 1970) was a New Brunswick folklorist and historian. She was born in Gilead, Maine but her family moved to New Brunswick when she was three. She grew up on the Miramichi River and there she developed an ...
as too difficult to pronounce. The name "Beaverbrook" also had the advantage of conveying a distinctive Canadian ring to the title. Beaverbrook's controlling stake in the ''Daily Express'' became public knowledge later in 1917, and he was criticised by parts of the Conservative Party for financing a publication they regarded as irresponsible and often unhelpful to the party. In February 1918, Beaverbrook became the first minister in the newly formed Ministry of Information, was also made
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. The position is the second highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the Prime Minister, and senior to the Minist ...
and was sworn of the
Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...
. Beaverbrook became responsible for propaganda in Allied and neutral countries and
Lord Northcliffe Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (15 July 1865 – 14 August 1922), was a British newspaper and publishing magnate. As owner of the ''Daily Mail'' and the ''Daily Mirror'', he was an early developer of popular journal ...
(owner of the ''Daily Mail'' and ''The Times'') became Director of Propaganda with control of propaganda in enemy countries. Beaverbrook established the
British War Memorials Committee The British War Memorials Committee was a British Government body that throughout 1918 was responsible for the commissioning of artworks to create a memorial to the First World War. The Committee was formed in February 1918 when the Department of In ...
within the Ministry, on lines similar to the earlier Canadian war art scheme, but when he established a private charity that would receive income from BWMC exhibitions, it was regarded as a conflict of interest and he dropped the scheme. Beaverbrook had a number of clashes with the Foreign Secretary
Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As F ...
over the use of intelligence material. He felt that intelligence should become part of his department, but Balfour disagreed. Eventually the intelligence committee was assigned to Beaverbrook but they then resigned ''en masse'' to be re-employed by the Foreign Office. In August 1918, Lloyd George became furious with Beaverbrook over a leader in the ''Daily Express'' threatening to withdraw support from the government over tariff reform. Beaverbrook increasingly came under attack from MPs who distrusted a press baron being employed by the state. He survived but became increasingly frustrated with his limited role and influence, and in October 1918 he resigned due to ill-health. A tooth had become infected with
actinomycosis Actinomycosis is a rare infectious bacterial disease caused by ''Actinomyces'' species. The name refers to ray-like appearance of the organisms in the granules. About 70% of infections are due to either ''Actinomyces israelii'' or '' A. gerencseria ...
and the often fatal disease progressed into his throat; his English doctors were unable to provide a cure, and it was a Portuguese medic who cured him by administering iodine solution orally until the fungus was arrested.
A. J. P. Taylor Alan John Percivale Taylor (25 March 1906 – 7 September 1990) was a British historian who specialised in 19th- and 20th-century European diplomacy. Both a journalist and a broadcaster, he became well known to millions through his televis ...
later wrote that Beaverbrook was a pathbreaker who "invented all the methods of publicity" used by Britain to promote the war, including the nation's first war artists, the first war photographers, and the first makers of war films. He was especially effective in promoting the sales of
war bond War bonds (sometimes referred to as Victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are ...
s to the general public. Nevertheless, he was widely disliked and distrusted by the political elite, who were suspicious of all they sneeringly called "press lords."


Press baron

After the war, Beaverbrook concentrated on running the ''Daily Express''. He turned the dull newspaper into a glittering and witty journal with an optimistic attitude, filled with an array of dramatic photo layouts. He hired first-rate writers such as Francis Williams and the cartoonist David Low. He embraced new technology and bought new presses to print the paper in Manchester. In 1919 the circulation of the ''Daily Express'' was under 40,000 a day; by 1937 it was 2,329,000 a day, making it the most successful of all British newspapers and generating huge profits for Beaverbrook whose wealth was already such that he never took a salary. After the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the ''Daily Express'' became the largest-selling newspaper in the world, with a circulation of 3,706,000. Beaverbrook launched the ''Sunday Express'' in December 1918, but it only established a significant readership after
John Junor Sir John Donald Brown Junor (15 January 1919 – 3 May 1997) was a Scottish journalist and editor-in-chief of the ''Sunday Express'' between 1954 and 1986, having previously worked as a columnist there. He then moved to ''The Mail on Sunday''. ...
became its editor in 1954. In 1923, in a joint deal with
Lord Rothermere Viscount Rothermere, of Hemsted in the county of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1919 for the press lord Harold Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth. He had already been created a baronet, of Horsey in th ...
, Beaverbrook bought the ''
Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...
''. Beaverbrook acquired a controlling stake in the Glasgow ''
Evening Citizen The ''Evening Citizen'', was an evening version of '' The Glasgow Citizen'' (a daily newspaper founded in 1842 by James David Hedderwick). It was first published in August 1864, was one of the first of three evening newspapers to be printed, pub ...
'', and in 1928 he launched the ''Scottish Daily Express''. After the death of Lord Northcliffe in 1922, Beaverbrook, with Lords Rothermere, Camrose and
Kemsley Kemsley is a suburb of Sittingbourne in Kent, England. According to Edward Hasted, in 1798, who quoted Asserius Menevensis in his survey, the Danes built themselves a fortress or castle here in 893. At a place called 'Kemsley downe'. This then l ...
became one of the four so-called press barons that were the dominent figures in the inter-war press. By 1937 the four owned nearly one in every two national and local daily papers sold in Britain, as well as one in every three Sunday papers that were sold. The combined circulation of all their newspapers amounted to over thirteen million. Beaverbrook purchased
The Vineyard, Fulham The Vineyard is a Grade II listed house at 79 Hurlingham Road, Fulham, London. It was built in the early 17th century, and has 18th century alterations, and probably the largest private garden in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. I ...
, a "tiny Tudor house in Hurlingham Road" where ... "far from the centre of London I was relieved of casual callers and comparatively free of long-winded visitors. I provided facilities by means of private telephone lines without any direct contact with the Telephone Exchanges. Thus the political conferences held there were safeguarded against interruption." Powerful friends and acquaintances such as Asquith, Lloyd George, Churchill, Frederick Edwin Smith,
Philip Sassoon Sir Philip Albert Gustave David Sassoon, 3rd Baronet, (4 December 1888 – 3 June 1939) was a British politician, art collector, and socialite, entertaining many celebrity guests at his homes, Port Lympne Mansion, Kent, and Trent Park, North Lond ...
, Diana and
Duff Cooper Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich, (22 February 1890 – 1 January 1954), known as Duff Cooper, was a British Conservative Party politician and diplomat who was also a military and political historian. First elected to Parliament in 192 ...
, Balfour and Tim Healy were guests at both Cherkley and the Vineyard. The circle included Valentine Castlerosse,
H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''
Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...
, who was godfather to Beaverbrook's youngest son Peter, but this did nothing to repair the rift that developed between them when Beaverbrook endorsed
Irish Home Rule The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for Devolution, self-government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1 ...
. Beaverbrook, the first baron of
Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...
, was often denounced as excessively powerful because his newspapers supposedly could make or break almost anyone. Beaverbrook enjoyed using his papers to attack his opponents and to promote his friends. From 1919 to 1922 he attacked
David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...
and his government on several issues. A colorful character, the American historian Randall Woods described him as "...a sharp, intense, unpredictable man. He was something of a firebrand, tending to overstatement and even irresponsibility in his editorials or public statements...Conspiracy was second nature to him...In conversation, Beaverbrook was constantly exaggerating and embellishing." Beaverbrook was considered to be likeable character full of charm and zest, but he was widely distrusted by the British elite as he was viewed as an unprincipled intriguer. A flamboyant, charismatic man full of dynamism and exuberance who stood out on the account of his Canadian Maritime accent, Beaverbrook was the subject of much fascination by the public. He was disliked by his employees as a demanding boss who had telephones installed in every room of his house so that he would always call his newspapers editors to give his orders about what story was interesting him at the moment without having to wait. Beaverbrook's much vaulted principle of "independence" under which he felt free to attack his allies via his newspapers made him few friends. Though a Conservative, Beaverbrook was opposed to British intervention in the Russian civil war and used his newspapers to argue that the question of who ruled Russia was no business of Britain's. Beaverbrook had one of his periodic falling outs with Churchill at the time, and saw attacking intervention in the Russian civil war, which Churchill had strongly promoted, as a way of lashing out. For example, on 6 September 1919, Beaverbrook ran on the front page of ''The Daily Express'' a banner headline, "ARCHANGEL SCANDAL EXPOSED: FAMOUS VC APPEALS TO THE NATION" above an article attacking the intervention as pointless and singled Churchill as the author of an expedition that had gone horribly wrong. The subtitle of the article was "DUPLICITY OF CHRUCHILL'S POLICY TOWARDS RUSSIA-THE PUBLIC HUMBUGED". A linked article cliamed that the British force in Arkhangelsk were poised to go deep into Russia with the aim of overthrowing the Bolshevik regime and Churchill had lied to the British people about the purpose of the expedition. In 1920, Beaverbrook opposed to British aid to Poland under the grounds that the Soviet-Polish war did not involve British interests. Beaverbrook began supporting independent Conservative candidates and campaigned for fifteen years to remove
Stanley Baldwin Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, (3 August 186714 December 1947) was a British Conservative Party politician who dominated the government of the United Kingdom between the world wars, serving as prime minister on three occasions, ...
from the leadership of the Conservative Party. In the 1924 election, he used the ''Daily Express'' to associate the Labour Party with the Soviet Union, writing in a leader: "We are not fighting Mr. Ramsay MacDonald in his saner moments, but the Russian Bolshevists and the shade of Lenin." The ''Daily Express'' did not first publish the so-called Zinoviev letter, a probably forged letter in which
Grigory Zinoviev Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev, . Transliterated ''Grigorii Evseevich Zinov'ev'' according to the Library of Congress system. (born Hirsch Apfelbaum, – 25 August 1936), known also under the name Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky (russian: Ов ...
, the chief of the Comintern, was alleged to order British Communists to infiltrate the Labour Party and the military, which was published in the ''Daily Mail'' instead. However, after the Zinoviev letter was published, Beaverbrook had the ''Daily Express'' in its coverage of 1924 election associate the Labour Party with Communism. The cartoons which the ''Daily Express'' published tended to depict Communists as alien, dirty, hairy, and unkempt thereby associating them with popular stereotypes of the poor. In foreign policy, Beaverbrook promoted a policy known as "
empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
isolationism Isolationism is a political philosophy advocating a national foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality and opposes entang ...
", namely that Britain should devote its interests to the British empire, but be otherwise disengaged from the rest of the world. A recurring theme of Beaverbrook's newspapers was that Britain was not a European nation, and should have as little to do as possible with the affairs of Europe. Likewise, Beaverbrook was opposed to British membership in the
League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
and in a 1923 leader advocated giving up the Palestine Mandate (modern Israel), which Britain held as the administrating power for the League, under the grounds that Palestine was more of a debit than a credit for the British empire. A typical statement from Beaverbrook was: "The British empire exists for the British race. It is our heritage. Let us cultivate it, defend it, cherish it, and make it great, rich and strong in righteousness, an example and object lesson for the rest of mankind". In 1925, Beaverbrook wrote: "In the Empire and not in Europe our future lies and the ''Daily Express'' has never failed to preach the Imperial doctrine in good or bad times. The ''Daily Express'' believes that the British Empire is the greatest instrument for good the world has ever seen". Beaverbrook believed that protecting the greatness as he saw it of the empire could be best accomplished via "splendid isolation" as he consistently argued for an isolationist foreign policy. In 1925, Beaverbrook via the ''Daily Express'' was strongly opposed to the
Treaty of Locarno The Locarno Treaties were seven agreements negotiated at Locarno, Switzerland, during 5 to 16 October 1925 and formally signed in London on 1 December, in which the First World War Western European Allied powers and the new states of Central a ...
under which Britain "guaranteed" the current borders of France, Belgium, and Germany along with the permanent demilitarised status of the
Rhineland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...
as involvement in European conflicts where no British interests were at stake. Reflecting his origins, Beaverbrook always thought in terms of the British empire rather than of Britain, and he had an essentially Commonwealth perspective as he argued that the Dominions were just as important as Britain in holding the empire together. Beaverbrook believed that because Britain had more people than what British agriculture was capable of feeding while the Dominions produced more food than what their people needed that a symbiotic relationship would be possible with British industry supplying the manufactured goods for the Dominions while the Dominions would supply food and other raw materials to Britain. As such, Beaverbrook wanted to see the end of all trade barriers within the Commonwealth and a system of tariffs to keep non-Commonwealth products out of the Commonwealth to form what he called the Empire Free Trade zone. Taylor credited Beaverbrook's Canadian origins for his beliefs about an "Empire Free Trade zone" as he wrote: "At the bottom this was pure sentiment, a desire to be both British as well as Canadian, and a desire, also characteristic of a Canadian, that the British empire should maintain its independence from the United States". Beaverbrook had long resented Baldwin's leadership of the Conservative Party and the loss of his influence that had followed the resignation of Bonar Law in 1923. Beaverbrook had privately "rejoiced" when the Conservatives lost the 1929 election, seeing Labour's victory as a chance to impose his views on the Conservative party, especially with regard to the Empire Free Trade zone. Through there was much discontent within the Conservative ranks over Baldwin's leadership, Beaverbrook was regarded as an "untouchable" by the Conservative elite. In July 1929, Beaverbrook launched the Empire Crusade movement to campaign for the "Empire Free Trade zone", which attracted support from various Tory backbencher MPs, peers and local riding associations. He very shrewdly sold the majority of his share holdings before the
1929 crash The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...
and in the resulting depression launched a new political party to promote free trade within the British Empire.
Empire Free Trade Crusade The Empire Free Trade Crusade was a political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Lord Beaverbrook in July 1929 to press for the British Empire to become a free trade bloc. The group was founded to oppose both the Labour minority go ...
candidates had some success. An Independent Conservative who supported Empire Free Trade won the Twickenham by-election in 1929. In December 1929, Beaverbrook set up a central office to co-ordinate the Empire Crusade movement. However, Beaverbrook could not quite decide if the purpose of the Empire Crusade was to depose Baldwin or just merely have the Conservative party give him the respect he felt he deserved. In February 1930, the Empire Crusade movement was joined by Lord Rothermere, the proprietor of the ''Daily Mail''. Beaverbrook and Rothermere founded that month the United Empire Party. The United Empire Party was intended to split the right-wing vote to such an extent that it would be impossible for the Conservatives to ever win a general vote again, and in this way Rothermre and Beaverbrook intended to impose their will on the Conservative party. However, Beaverbrook and Rothermere differed in their intentions. Rothermere made it very clear that he wanted to see Baldwin replaced with a puppet leader of his choosing. Likewise, Rothermere had doubts about the "food taxes" as the proposed tariffs on food were known and promoted a "no-surrender line" with regard to the Government of India act. The Empire Free Trade candidate won the South Paddington by-election in October 1930. In February 1931, Empire Free Trade lost the Islington East by-election and by splitting the vote with the Conservatives allowed
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
to hold a seat they had been expected to lose. Duff Cooper's victory for the Conservatives in St George's Westminster by-election in March 1931 marked the end of the movement as an electoral force. On 17 March 1931, during the St George's Westminster by-election, Stanley Baldwin described the media barons who owned British newspapers as having "Power without responsibility – the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages."


"Empire Isolationism" and appeasement

In March 1933, he visited Germany where he wrote that it was his impression that "the stories of Jewish persecution are exaggerated". His most enduring impressions of his German trip was he felt that SA could not march properly, and he seemed to regard the Nazis as something of a joke who were not capable of achieving much of anything. Beaverbrook frequently changed his views about Adolf Hitler, which caused the obituary writers that worked for him much anguish as they were forced to change their drafts of a Hitler obituary from positive to negative to positive again. After the Night of the Long Knives, Beaverbrook "turned solidly, fanatically anti-Hitler" as he compared Hitler to Al Capone and the Nazis to gangsters. Beaverbrook was to change his opinions about Hitler a number of times afterward. In a guest opinion column published in April 1935 in the Hearst newspapers, Beaverbrook set out to explain "the section of opinion to which I belong - the Isolationists". Beaverbrook advocated that: "Britain should make no alliances except with the United States, that we should occur no obligations, no responsibilities, no liabilities outside of the Empire except in relation to the Anglo-Saxon race". He supported the "limited liability" rearmament under which the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy were built up at the expense of the British Army as the rearmament program in best accord with his own foreign policy ideas. In 1935, Beaverbrook campaigned against the Peace Ballot, an unofficial referendum organised in 1935 by the League of Nations Union, as the "Ballot of Blood". He was concerned that if Britain should be obliged to enforce the collective security policies of the League of Nations against aggression, it could involve Britain in wars where no British interests were at stake. In a leader in the ''Daily Express'', he wrote the collective security policy of the League "will drag you and your children into a war" caused by "the ambitious and unscrupulous powers" that were the other members of the League (Beaverbrook failed to mention that to activate collective security required the approval of the League Council, which Britain was a veto-holding member of). Beaverbrook stated that his readers should not take part in the Peace Ballot and wrote: "Tear up the ballot paper. Throw the pieces in the waste paper basket. Turn away from Europe. Stand by the Empire and Splendid Isolation". During the crisis caused by the Italian aggression against Ethiopia, Beaverbrook was opposed to the policy of imposing sanctions on Italy under the banner of the League of Nations as he argued that the Italo-Ethiopian war did not concern Britain. In a leader, he warned that the sanctions on Italy might cause a "world race war" as he stated that Ethiopia was not worth fighting for as it was an African nation. Likewise, when Germany remilitarised the Rhineland on 7 March 1936, violating both the Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Locarno, Beaverbrook used his newspapers to argue against Britain taking action to enforce the treaties it had signed. Beaverbrook maintained good relations with
Ivan Maisky Ivan Mikhailovich Maisky (also transliterated as "Maysky"; russian: Ива́н Миха́йлович Ма́йский) (19 January 1884 – 3 September 1975), a Soviet diplomat, historian and politician, served as the Soviet Union's ambassad ...
, the Soviet ambassador in London, writing to him in 1936 about his "...friendly attitude towards your Great Leader" and he was "determined that nothing shall be said or done by any newspaper controlled by me which is likely to disturb your tenure in office". Beaverbrook concluded "while I am free, and my newspapers in the attitude I take to the Russian leader, I must say I admire and praise his conduct of government". In 1936, at the invitation of Joachim von Ribbentrop, the new German ambassador the Court of St. James, Beaverbrook attended the opening of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but quickly became bored with the Third Reich and soon returned to Britain." In the 1930s, while personally attempting to dissuade Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, King Edward VIII from continuing his affair with American divorcee, Wallis Simpson, Beaverbrook's newspapers published every titbit of the affair, especially allegations about pro-Nazi sympathies. Reflecting his "empire isolationism", Beaverbrook used the ''Daily Express'' to promote British neutrality as he wrote a leader which compared supporting the Spanish Republic as alike to supporting the Whites in the Russian civil war as he declared that British intervention in the Russian civil war "cost us some thousands of British soldiers' lives, £100, 000, 000 in cash, and the bitter enmity of the Russian government for the next ten years...and the intervention failed anyway. Britain had backed a loser. It is the mark of a mug to go on backing the same loser". In 1936, the ''Daily Express'' published an opinion piece by Lloyd George who just returned from meeting Hitler at the Nuremberg Party Rally in which he called ''der Führer'' "the George Washington of Germany". Beaverbrook published the piece, but told Lloyd George that he was embarrassed by it as he stated disliked "the regimentation of opinion" in Germany. In regards to the Sino-Japanese war, Beaverbrook was entirely concerned about a possible Japanese threat to the British empire and used the ''Daily Express'' to sound his fears that the Japanese might try to seize the British colonies in Asia. In a 1938 leader, Beaverbrook warned: "Too many people would be interested in checking Japan if that country really MEANT trouble against white people...The British public seem to have sensed what the British ministers have not-that Japan is dynamiting her way not only through the Chinese empire, but dangerously near other empires. Get out your map!" Along the leader was a map that showed the proximity of Japanese troops to Hong Kong. Beaverbrook supported the Munich Agreement and hoped the newly named Duke of Windsor would seek a peace deal with Germany. Testifying before a Parliamentary inquiry in 1947, former ''Express'' employee and future MP Michael Foot alleged that Beaverbrook kept a blacklist of notable public figures who were to be denied any publicity in his papers because of personal disputes. Foot said they included Sir Thomas Beecham, Paul Robeson, Haile Selassie and Noël Coward. Beaverbrook himself gave evidence before the inquiry and vehemently denied the allegations; Express Newspapers general manager E. J. Robertson denied that Robeson had been blacklisted, but did admit that Coward had been "boycotted" because he had enraged Beaverbrook with his film ''In Which We Serve'', for in the opening sequence Coward included an ironic shot showing a copy of the ''Daily Express'' floating in the dockside rubbish bearing the headline "No War This Year". In the late 1930s, Beaverbrook used his newspapers to promote the appeasement policies of the Neville Chamberlain, Chamberlain government. The slogan 'There will be no war' was used by the ''Daily Express''. At the time of the Sudetenland crisis, Beaverbrook wrote in a leader: "... do not get caught up in quarrels over foreign boundaries that do not concern you." Beaverbrook was strongly opposed the famous "guarantee" of Poland offered by Chamberlain in the House of Commons on 31 March 1939 under his usual grounds that Britain had no interests in Poland, and no reason to go to war for Poland. Beaverbrook told Maisky: "I want the empire to remain intact, but I don’t understand why for the sake of this we must wage a three-year war to crush “Hitlerism”...Poland, Czechoslovakia? What are they to do with us? Cursed be the day when Chamberlain gave our guarantees to Poland!" On 4 August 1939, a leader in ''The Daily Express'' questioned the need for British commitments to Poland as it was declared: "while there are some reasons in favor of an alliance with France...our alliances in Eastern Europe are another matter"." On 7 August 1939, the ''Daily Express'' ran a banner headline saying "No War This Year" as it predicated the Danzig crisis would be settled peacefully. In a memo dated 3 March 1943, Beaverbrook was unapologetic about the "no war" headlines as he wrote: "The prophecy proved wrong. The policy, had it been pursued more vigorously might had proved it right". The British historian Daniel Hucker wrote that Beaverbrook was out of touch with the readers of his newspapers in the summer of 1939.


Second World War

Though Beaverbrook did not welcome the British declaration of war on the ''Reich'' on 3 September 1939, he had newspapers take an ultra-patriotic line in supporting the war effort, not least because he knew the vast majority of his readers supported the war. During the Second World War, in May 1940, his friend
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
, the British Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister, appointed Beaverbrook as
Minister of Aircraft Production The Minister of Aircraft Production was, from 1940 to 1945, the British government minister at the Ministry of Aircraft Production, one of the specialised supply ministries set up by the British Government during World War II. It was responsible ...
. Beaverbrook was given almost dictatorial powers over all aspects of aircraft production. In June 1940, Beaverbrook went with Churchill in a desperate mission to Tours to meet the French government with the aim of keeping France in the war. The French Premier, Paul Reynaud, was against an armistice with Germany and in favor of continuing the war from Algeria, but the strongest voice in the French cabinet was that of Marshal Philippe Pétain, the revered "Victor of Verdun", who argued for an immediate armistice. Churchill devised a scheme for an Anglo-French Union as a way to keep France in the war, which Beaverbrook was strongly opposed to. Unlike Churchill, Beaverbrook did not see any particular importance of keeping France in the war, and was much more indifferent to the prospect of France being defeated than was the prime minister, arguing that Britain still had the Commonwealth and the empire. Churchill's viewpoint that if France were occupied, it would shorten the flying time of the Luftwaffe to bomb Britain from hours to minutes and allow the ''Kriesgmarine'' to use the French Atlantic ports to attack shipping the Western Approaches made no impression on Beaverbrook. The plans for an Anglo-French union fell flat when Pétain - who regarded the plan for a union as a way for the British to seize France's colonial empire - persuaded the French cabinet to reject it. With Churchill's blessing, Beaverbrook overhauled all aspects of war-time aircraft production. He increased production targets by 15% across the board, took control of aircraft repairs and Maintenance Unit, RAF storage units, replaced the management of plants that were underperforming, and released German Jewish engineers from internment to work in the factories. He seized materials and equipment destined for other departments and was perpetually at odds with the Air Ministry. Beaverbrook did not tolerate the arguments that supply "bottlenecks" were hindering aircraft production and required that aircraft manufacturer submit to him a daily list of "bottlenecks" which he made his mission to resolve. One of Beaverbrook's first acts as minister of aircraft production was to order the "cannibalisation" of all wrecked aircraft which totaled about 2, 000 air planes. For every two wrecked planes, it was possible to fashion a new plane. His Iron railing#History, appeal for pots and pans "to make Spitfires" was afterwards revealed by his son Sir Max Aitken to have been nothing more than a propaganda exercise. Still, a ''Time (magazine), Time Magazine'' cover story declared, "Even if Britain goes down this fall, it will not be Lord Beaverbrook's fault. If she holds out, it will be his triumph. This war is a war of machines. It will be won on the assembly line." Under Beaverbrook, fighter and bomber production increased so much so that Churchill declared: "His personal force and genius made this Aitken's finest hour." Beaverbrook's impact on wartime production has been much debated but he certainly energised production at a time when it was desperately needed. The Royal Marine General Leslie Hollis who worked as the Senior Assistant Secretary to the War Cabinet recalled in an interview: "For all Beaverbrook's tremendous achievement in producing aeroplanes, there was little to praise in the way he rode roughshod over everyone. He never carried an oil can. He did as he liked, when he liked. He once promoted an Air Commodore to Air Vice-Marshal-over the heads of fifty more senior Air Commodores. This sort of behavior did not make for happiness, but it was the way he worked, and the end justified the means". Hollis stated that for Beaverbrook all that mattered was if someone was efficient or not, and he was very ruthless about sacking those he viewed as inefficient. However, it has been argued that aircraft production was already rising when Beaverbrook took charge and that he was fortunate to inherit a system which was just beginning to bear fruit. Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding, Head of Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain wrote that "We had the organization, we had the men, we had the spirit which could bring us victory in the air but we had not the supply of machines necessary to withstand the drain of continuous battle. Lord Beaverbrook gave us those machines, and I do not believe that I exaggerate when I say that no other man in England could have done so." Hollis recalled in an interview: "Beaverbrook's ruthless, cut-throat, steam-roller approach to every problem made him feared as well as respected. You either got on with him or you did not; and in the latter case it was better and safer to give him a wide berth. Nevertheless, he was a staunch and faithful friend to me, and immensely kind." Beaverbrook increasingly came into conflict with Ernest Bevin over a number of issues such as whose ministry would be responsible for safety training in aircraft factories, and the two ministers spent much time feuding. Hollis recalled: "Their hostility grew to such an extent that it embarrassed Mr. Churchill, and caused a great deal of unhappiness in the government. It seemed astonishing that, at such a time, two men of such stature and ability should be so eager to score points off each other. I was especially grieved at this because I admired both men very much". Hollis also recalled that Beaverbrook's relations with Churchill would vary dramatically as he stated: "Beaverbrook's friendship with Churchill was of very long standing and to my mind, quite stormy. They would fight and argue every Monday and Tuesday; ;part on Wednesday and Thursday; and then make it up again on Friday and Saturday". Beaverbrook resigned on 30 April 1941 and, after a month as Minister of State, Churchill appointed him to the post of Minister of Supply. Here Beaverbrook clashed with Ernest Bevin who, as Minister of Labour and National Service, refused to let Beaverbrook take over any of his responsibilities. On 10 May 1941, Rudolf Hess made his flight to Scotland to contact the Duke of Hamilton about opening talks for an Anglo-German peace. Instead he was taken into custody by the local police constables. Beaverbrook was sent to interview Hess with orders to find out just what had motivated the deputy führer to fly to Scotland. Hess spoke fluent English and it was in that language that the interview was conducted. Beaverbrook reported to Churchill that Hess was an exceedingly eccentric and strange man who believed that the war between Germany and Britain was a grave mistake. Beaverbrook further stated that the best he could discern for Hess's motives was that he had told him that Germany was going to be invading the Soviet Union in the very near-future and now was the ideal time for the two "Nordic" nations to stop their pointless "fratricidal" war and join forces forces against the Soviet Union, whom Hess insisted was the common enemy of both nations. Early on the morning of 22 June 1941, Hess's predications about the coming invasion of the Soviet Union came true when Operation Barbarossa, the largest invasion in history was launched with 3 million German soldiers organised into three army groups invaded the Soviet Union. In 1941, Beaverbrook headed the British delegation to Moscow with his American counterpart W. Averell Harriman, Averell Harriman. This made Beaverbrook the first senior British politician to meet Soviet leader Joseph Stalin since Adolf Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union. Harriman said of Beaverbrook's role in the mission: ‘has been a great salesman...His genius never worked more effectively.’ Beaverbrook met Stalin at the Kremlin and developed a liking for the Soviet leader, finding him to be a man like himself who regarded committees as time-wasting and preferred action over meetings. Much impressed by Stalin and the sacrifice of the Soviet people, he returned to London determined to persuade Churchill to launch a second front in Europe to help draw German resources away from the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front to aid the Soviets. In a memo to Churchill on 19 October 1941, Beaverbrook wrote the involvement of the Soviet Union in the war offered a chance to win decisively far sooner than expected. In February 1942, Beaverbrook became Minister of Production, Minister of War Production and again clashed with Bevin, this time over shipbuilding. In the face of Bevin's refusal to work with him, Beaverbrook resigned after only twelve days in the post. In September 1943 he was appointed
Lord Privy Seal The Lord Privy Seal (or, more formally, the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal) is the fifth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and abov ...
, outside of the Cabinet, and held that post until the end of the war. After leaving the War Cabinet, Beaverbrook made himself the main spokesman for the "Second Front Now" campaign, calling for an Anglo-American invasion of France. This put him at odds with Churchill who favored the "peripheral strategy" of winning the war via strategical bombing of Germany; maintaining command of the sea; and the "Mediterrean strategy" of engaging the Wehrmacht in North Africa and Italy. Despite their disagreement over the second front, Beaverbrook remained a close confidant of Churchill throughout the war, and could regularly be found with Churchill until the early hours of the morning. Clement Attlee commented that "Churchill often listened to Beaverbrook's advice but was too sensible to take it." In addition to his ministerial roles, Beaverbrook headed the Anglo-American Combined Raw Materials Board from 1942 to 1945 and accompanied Churchill to several wartime meetings with Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Roosevelt. He was able to relate to Roosevelt in a different way to Churchill and became close to Roosevelt during these visits. This friendship sometimes irritated Churchill who felt that Beaverbrook was distracting Roosevelt from concentrating on the war effort. For his part Roosevelt seems to have enjoyed the distraction.


Later life

Beaverbrook devoted himself to Churchill's 1945 United Kingdom general election, 1945 general election campaign, but a ''Daily Express'' headline warning that a Labour victory would amount to the 'Gestapo in Britain' (adapted from a passage in a radio election speech by Churchill on 4 June) was a huge mistake and completely misjudged the public mood. Beaverbrook renounced his British citizenship and left the Conservative Party in 1951, but remained an Empire loyalist throughout his life. In 1947, Beaverbrook was vehemently opposed to the plans to end the Raj with the colony of India to be granted independence and partitioned into the new nations of India and Pakistan. Through the decision to end the Raj was taken by the Labour prime minister, Clement Attlee, Beaverbrook directed his ire against the last Viceroy, Admiral Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Louis Mountbatten, who Beaverbrook believed could have somehow defied the government and not granted independence if he had wanted to. In a leader, the ''Daily Express'' wrote that "in all the world we have few more dangerous enemies" than Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru. Beaverbrook never forgave Mountbatten and for the rest of his life used the ''Daily Express'' to blacken his reputation and always presented Mountbatten in the worse possible light. Beaverbrook took a typically idiosyncratic line with regard to the Cold War, holding out hopes in the editorial line of the ''Daily Express'' until 1948 that the wartime "Big Three" alliance of the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom should continue after the war. It was only after the Berlin blockade began in 1948 that Beaverbrook had the ''Daily Express'' take an anti-Soviet line, but even then he continue to hold out hopes that the Cold War would not be permanent and it might be possible to revive the "Big Three" alliance. Beaverbrook had Wilfred Burchett, an Australian journalist of extreme left-wing views based in East Berlin to run a column in ''The Daily Express'' entitled "The Russian Window" starting in October 1948. The nature of Burchett's "Russian Window" reports about life behind the Iron Curtain such as his claims that there was a surplus of luxury goods on sale in shops in Moscow led to accusations that he was engaged in propaganda for the Soviet Union, a nation that Burchett clearly admired. When Beaverbrook asked the editor of the ''Daily Express'', Arthur Christiansen about Burchett after reading several of his "Russian Window" columns, he was told: "He is, I think, a fellow traveler, but nevertheless an able chap". Even after the "Russian Window" column was terminated, Burchett continued to work as a free-lancer for ''The Daily Express'' based in Budapest, where he denied in one article that Cardinal József Mindszenty had confessed at his show trial under the influence of "truth drugs". In 1950, Christiansen turned down a chance to publish photographs of South Korean policemen engaged in a mass execution of suspected Communists because to do so would had "given our enemies a chance to say we are playing the Communist game and did the ''Daily Worker'' propaganda for them". The photographs were later published in ''The Daily Worker'' which presented the executions as typical of justice in South Korea, and led to Beaverbrook to complain that it was a shame that ''The Daily Express'' did not have those "real fine pictures". Beaverbrook used his newspapers to campaign against Mountbatten being appointed First Sea Lord under the grounds that he "gave away" India in 1947. When Mountbatten was appointed First Sea Lord, the Beaverbrook newspapers went out of their way to portray the Royal Navy under Mountbatten's leadership in a negative light. As part of his campaign against Mountbatten, Beaverbrook used his newspapers to make allegations to the effect that Mountbatten had deliberately launched the Dieppe raid of 19 August 1942 - in which the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division had taken heavy losses - in the full knowledge that it would fail to prevent a second front from being opened in 1942. Beaverbrook angrily told Mountbatten at a dinner party hosted by Harriman in London: "You murdered my Canadians to wreck my Second Front campaign!" Tom Driberg, the Labour MP who also worked as the gossip columnist for the ''Daily Express'' detailed these allegations in a manuscript of a biography of Beaverbrook he wrote in the mid-1950s, but the threats of a libel suit from Mountbatten led the allegations being removed from the published book. The British historian Adrien Smith argued that the real reason for Beaverbrook's feud with Mountbatten was because one of his various mistresses, Jean Norton, had shared her affections with Mountbatten. Beaverbrook was frequently unfaithful towards his wife, but he was possessive of his mistresses. In 1956, Beaverbrook used the ''Daily Express'' to clamor for war against Egypt after President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the partly British-owned ''Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez'', an act that Beaverbrook considered to be intolerable. When the invasion of Egypt began in October 1956, Beaverbrook had the ''Daily Express'' support the war as a justified assertion of British national interests. Beaverbrook regarded the end of the Suez crisis with Britain being forced to withdraw under strong American-Soviet pressure to be a national humiliation, and much of the anti-Americanism he was to express in his last years related to bitterness over the Suez crisis. Beaverbrook likewise favored a hawkish line on the Cyprus Emergency as he used his newspapers to support keeping Cyprus a British colony and regarded the decision to grant Cyprus independence in 1960 again as a national humiliation. Aitken continued to live lavishly. Ascherson noted: "His life became a progress like a medieval king’s, cruising on Atlantic liners and luxurious yachts with a great retinue of servants, cronies, henchmen, useful politicians and pretty women. But the Beaver did not forget old comrades. The ageing Churchill was free to stay and paint in the sun at La Capponcina whenever he pleased, and their friendship grew closer until Beaverbrook’s death in 1964. He used his money and connections quietly to rescue many other lesser figures in trouble. A.J.P. Taylor justly called him ‘a foul-weather friend". He opposed both Britain's acceptance of post-war loans from America and Britain's application to join the European Economic Community in 1961. In 1953 he became chancellor-for-life of the
University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Americ ...
through an Act of the local legislature. In 1960, the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan decided to have the United Kingdom join the Economic Europan Community (EEC) as the European Union was then called, but he waited until July 1961 to formally make the application at least in part out of the fear over the reaction of the Beaverbrook newspapers. Beaverbrook was strongly opposed to the application and used his newspapers to offer ferocious criticism of Macmillan's application to join the EEC, accusing him of a betrayal of the Commonwealth whom Beaverbrook continued to insist were Britain's natural allies. In 1960, the ''Daily Express'' was selling 4,300,000 copies per day, making it into Britain's most popular newspaper. He became the university's greatest benefactor, fulfilling the same role for the city of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Fredericton and the province as a whole. He would provide additional buildings for the university, scholarship funds, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the Beaverbrook Skating Rink, the Lord Beaverbrook Hotel, with profits donated to charity, the The Playhouse (Fredericton), Playhouse,
Louise Manny Louise Elizabeth Manny (1890 – 17 August 1970) was a New Brunswick folklorist and historian. She was born in Gilead, Maine but her family moved to New Brunswick when she was three. She grew up on the Miramichi River and there she developed an ...
's early folklore work, and numerous other projects. He bought the archive papers of both Bonar Law and David Lloyd George and placed them in the Beaverbrook Library within the Daily Express Building, London, Daily Express Building. Beaverbrook was always proud of his New Brunswick roots, and liked to claim in his last years that four of the most outstanding men of his generation were from New Brunswick, by which he meant Bonar Law, R.B. Bennett, Sir James Hamet Dunn and himself.


Personal life

On 29 January 1906, in Halifax, Aitken married Gladys Henderson Drury, daughter of Major-General Charles William Drury Order of the Bath, CB (a first cousin of Admiral Sir Charles Carter Drury) and Mary Louise Drury (née Henderson). They had three children before her death on 1 December 1927. Their son Sir Max Aitken, 2nd Baronet, Max Aitken Jr. became a fighter pilot with 601 Squadron, rising to Wing commander (rank), Wing Commander with 16 victories in World War II. Their daughter Janet Gladys Aitken was married to Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll, Ian Campbell, who later became the 11th Duke of Argyll. Together they had one daughter, Lady Jeanne Campbell. Beaverbrook remained a widower for many years until 1963 when he married Marcia Anastasia Christoforides (1910–1994), the widow of his friend Sir James Dunn. Beaverbrook was rarely a faithful husband, and even in old age was often accused of treating women with disrespect. In Britain he established the then-married Jean Norton as his mistress at Cherkley. Aitken left Norton for a Jewish ballet dancer named Lily Ernst whom he had rescued from pre-war Austria.


Historian

After the First World War, Beaverbrook had written ''Politicians and the Press'' in 1925, and ''Politicians and the War'' in two volumes, the first in 1928 and the second in 1932, republished in one volume in 1960. Upon their original publication, the books were largely ignored by professional historians and the only favourable reviews were in Beaverbrook's own newspapers. However, when the combined edition of ''Politicians and the War'' came out, the reviews were more positive.
A. J. P. Taylor Alan John Percivale Taylor (25 March 1906 – 7 September 1990) was a British historian who specialised in 19th- and 20th-century European diplomacy. Both a journalist and a broadcaster, he became well known to millions through his televis ...
said it was "Tacitus and Aubrey rolled into one". Later Taylor said: "The enduring merits of the book are really beyond cavil. It provides essential testimony for events during a great political crisis...It contains character sketches worthy of Aubrey. On a wider canvas, it displays the behaviour of political leaders in wartime. The narrative is carried along by rare zest and wit, yet with the detached impartialty of the true scholar". Sir John Elliott (historian), John Elliot in 1981 said the work "will remain, despite all carping, the authoritative narrative; nor does the story want in the telling thereof". ''Men and Power 1917–1918'' was published in 1956. It is not a coherent narrative, but is divided by separate episodes centred on one man, such as Carson, Robertson, Rothermere and others. The reviews were favourable, with Taylor's review in ''The Observer'' greatly pleasing Beaverbrook. The book sold over 23,000 copies. When ''The Decline and Fall of Lloyd George'' was published in 1963, favourable reviewers included Clement Attlee, Roy Jenkins, Robert Blake, Baron Blake, Robert Blake, Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, Lord Longford, Sir C. P. Snow, Lady Violet Bonham Carter, Richard Crossman and Denis Brogan. Ken Young, Kenneth Young said the book was "the finest of all his writing". Beaverbrook was both admired and despised in Britain, sometimes at the same time: in his 1956 autobiography, David Low quotes H.G. Wells as saying of Beaverbrook: "If ever Max ever gets to Heaven, he won't last long. He will be chucked out for trying to pull off a merger between Heaven and Hell after having secured a controlling interest in key subsidiary companies in both places, of course." Beaverbrook was of an imperialist mindset, with the quote, "There are countries so underdeveloped today that the gift of independence is like the gift of a razor to a child" attributed to him in a panel discussion on Canadian TV.


Death

Lord Beaverbrook died in
Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley District of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Leath ...
in 1964, aged 85. He had recently attended a birthday banquet organised by fellow Canadian press baron, Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet, Lord Thomson of Fleet, where he was determined to be seen on his usual good form, despite suffering from cancer. A bust of him by Oscar Nemon stands in the park in the town square of Newcastle, New Brunswick, not far from where he sold newspapers as a young boy. His ashes are in the plinth of the bust. The Beaverbrook Foundation continues his philanthropic interests. In 1957, a bronze statue of Lord Beaverbrook was erected at the centre of Officers' Square in Fredericton, New Brunswick, paid for by money raised by children throughout the province.


Legacy

Beaverbrook and his wife Lady Beaverbrook left a considerable legacy to both New Brunswick and the United Kingdom. In 2014, he was named a Persons of National Historic Significance, National Historic Person on the advice of the National Historic Sites of Canada#Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. His legacy, and memorials, includes the following buildings: *
University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Americ ...
** Aitken House ** Aitken University Centre ** Lady Beaverbrook Gymnasium ** Lady Beaverbrook Residence ** Beaverbrook House (UNBSJ E-Commerce Centre) * Fredericton, New Brunswick, City of Fredericton, New Brunswick ** Lady Beaverbrook Arena (formerly operated by the University of New Brunswick) ** The Beaverbrook Art Gallery, including world-renowned art collection (New Brunswick's provincial gallery) ** The Playhouse (Fredericton), The Fredericton Playhouse ** Lord Beaverbrook Hotel ** Lord Beaverbrook statue in Officer's Square * Miramichi, New Brunswick, City of Miramichi, New Brunswick ** Max Aitken Academy ** Lord Beaverbrook Arena (LBA) ** Beaverbrook Kin Centre (formerly the Beaverbrook Theatre and Town Hall) ** Beaverbrook House (his boyhood home and formerly the Old Manse Library) ** Lord Beaverbrook bust in Queen Elizabeth Park ** Aitken Avenue * Campbellton, New Brunswick, City of Campbellton, New Brunswick ** Lord Beaverbrook School * Saint John, New Brunswick, City of Saint John, New Brunswick ** Lord Beaverbrook Rink * Ottawa, City of Ottawa, Ontario ** Beaverbrook, Ottawa, Beaverbrook * Calgary, Alberta, City of Calgary, Alberta ** Lord Beaverbrook High School * McGill University ** The Beaverbrook Chair in Ethics, Media and Communications


Beaverbrook's published works

* * 2003: . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 1981: *


In popular culture

For a period of time Beaverbrook employed novelist Evelyn Waugh in London and abroad. Waugh later lampooned his employer by portraying him as Lord Copper in ''Scoop (novel), Scoop'' and as Lord Monomark in both ''Put Out More Flags'' and ''Vile Bodies''. The Kinks recorded "Mr Churchill Says" for their 1969 album ''Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire), Arthur'', which contains the lines: "Mr Beaverbrook says: 'We've gotta save our tin/And all the garden gates and empty cans are gonna make us win...'." Beaverbrook was one of eight notable Britons cited in Bjørge Lillelien's famous "Bjørge Lillelien#"Your boys took a hell of a beating", Your boys took a hell of a beating" commentary at the end of an English football team defeat to Norway football, Norway in 1981, mentioned alongside British Prime Ministers Churchill, Thatcher and Attlee. In the alternate history novel Dominion (Sansom novel), ''Dominion'' by C. J. Sansom, Beaverbrook serves as the collaborationist Prime Minister of a Nazi-occupied Britain.


See also

* Canadian peers and baronets * Churchill war ministry


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * * * * * *


External links


Lord Beaverbrook, a Week at the Office
* * * * *
UK Parliamentary Archives, Beaverbrook Papers

UK Parliamentary Archives, Beaverbrook Library Papers
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beaverbrook, Max Aitken, 1st Baron 1879 births 1964 deaths 20th-century British newspaper publishers (people) 20th-century British male writers 20th-century Canadian newspaper publishers (people) 20th-century Canadian male writers Aitken family Barons Beaverbrook, 1 British mass media company founders British newspaper chain founders British people of Canadian descent British people of World War II Canadian Presbyterians Canadian art collectors Canadian baronets recommended by the British government, Aitken, William Maxwell Canadian expatriate writers Historians from Ontario Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian mass media company founders Canadian members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Canadian newspaper chain founders Canadian peers Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian people of World War II Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies, Aitken, William Maxwell Lords Privy Seal Members of the Order of New Brunswick Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Ashton-under-Lyne Ministers in the Churchill caretaker government, 1945 Ministers in the Churchill wartime government, 1940–1945 Ministers of Supply Barons created by George V People from Miramichi, New Brunswick People from Northumberland County, New Brunswick Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) UK MPs 1910–1918, Aitken, William Maxwell UK MPs who were granted peerages University of New Brunswick Faculty of Law alumni