WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE 1917

CREATING THE AIR MINISTRY 129
danger to discipline through constant publicity is well illustrated
in the report in this morning's newspaper of yesterday's proceedings
in the House of Commons. Two of the three Members of
Parliament pressing Mr. Bonar Law to give an early day for a
debate on Air Ministry affairs are officers of the Royal Air Force
holding junior Staff appointments under me in the Hotel Cecil.
. . . Why in the House of Commons should they flout disciplinary
codes where elsewhere similar conduct by any other Staff
Officer would form the subject of enquiry by his superior officers?
Sequestered in the Hotel Cecil, Major Sir John Simon has
acted as an assistant secretary or clerk to Major-General Sir
H. Trenchard, late Chief of the Air Staff. Two months ago I mentioned
to you the extreme unsuitability of this arrangement with
its possible dangers. As events have proved, I was not wrong. . . .
My reply, which was sent after it had been shown to and
approved by my colleagues in the War Cabinet, was as follows:
"10, Downing Street,
Whitehall, S W.l.
25th April, 1918.
"My dear Rothermere,
"I have received your letter tendering your resignation as Secretary
of State for the Air Force with the deepest regret. Your
work there has been of inestimable service to the nation, and time
will bring with it a full recognition of your achievement. It is no
small thing to have taken over the conduct of an entirely new arm
of the Service in the middle of a great war, to have extricated it
from the difficulties which surrounded it, coordinated the two
services which made it up, and bestowed on its administration
an initiative which has given the new force a real supremacy at
the front. And all this has been done in such a brief period of
time.
"It is the more to be lamented that, having set the Ministry
on its legs, you cannot remain to enjoy the fruition of your own
brilliant work. But I feel on reading your letter that I cannot press
you to stay, much as the Government must suffer from your retirement.