Journey (2015)
“When Lloyd George tapped him in 1916 to whip the British industrial effort into line so that Britain could muster its full strength against the Kaiser, he was as well prepared as a man could be to discipline the private sector.
A blue-blooded nobleman and a man who in the privacy of his club had dismissed Lloyd George as “that insufferable little Welshman, no gentleman at all,” he rallied to his assignment, became one of Lloyd George’s most trusted adherents, and performed wonders in helping to throw back the German might. In dealing with refractory industrialists who came to him complaining that they simply could not accept the difficulties involved in this wartime measure or that, he never referred to his two years in the Arctic, but he did look the man in the eye, stare him down with what was known as “Evelyn’s silent-sneer” and ask: “Difficulties? Do you know what difficulty is?” and because everyone knew of his experiences in the Arctic, he got his way.
But that was not the chara...cteristic which enabled him to become one of the most effective ministers of war, for as Lloyd George remarked in one of his cabinet summaries: “The Marquess of Deal could reach a decision quicker than any man I ever knew, defend it with brilliant logic and ram it down the throats of all who opposed.MoreLess
A blue-blooded nobleman and a man who in the privacy of his club had dismissed Lloyd George as “that insufferable little Welshman, no gentleman at all,” he rallied to his assignment, became one of Lloyd George’s most trusted adherents, and performed wonders in helping to throw back the German might. In dealing with refractory industrialists who came to him complaining that they simply could not accept the difficulties involved in this wartime measure or that, he never referred to his two years in the Arctic, but he did look the man in the eye, stare him down with what was known as “Evelyn’s silent-sneer” and ask: “Difficulties? Do you know what difficulty is?” and because everyone knew of his experiences in the Arctic, he got his way.
But that was not the chara...cteristic which enabled him to become one of the most effective ministers of war, for as Lloyd George remarked in one of his cabinet summaries: “The Marquess of Deal could reach a decision quicker than any man I ever knew, defend it with brilliant logic and ram it down the throats of all who opposed.MoreLess
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