Eighty years ago, Neville Chamberlain tries to show he means business, but apologises to Hitler in advance

The British government followed up the announcement in late March that the volunteer Territorial Army was to be doubled in size, with another move intended to show that the country was undertaking serious military preparations to confront Nazi Germany. For over a year the government had been resisting calls to create a Ministry of Supply, a euphemism for a ministry of munitions like the one established in the First World War to direct the national economy in Britain’s first total war. Neville Chamberlain finally bowed to these calls, but the detail of the measure suggested that he was, at most, half-hearted about it. The new ministry would only concern itself with the needs of the army; the other armed services would fend for themselves. Moreover, the new minister was to be Leslie Burgin, who was moved from the Ministry of Transport. No-one doubted his competence, but he was a low-key administrator. The most powerful voice advocating a Ministry of Supply had been that of Winsto