The 1944 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference was the first Meeting of the Heads of Government of the British Commonwealth. It was held in the United Kingdom, between 1–16 May 1944, and was hosted by British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill.
The conference Outline The conference was attended by the Prime Ministers of all of the Dominions within the Commonwealth, except Ireland and Newfoundland. Attendees included Prime Minister John Curtin of Australia, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King of Canada, Prime Minister Peter Fraser of New Zealand and Prime Minister Jan Smuts of South Africa. Also attending was Prime Minister Sir Godfrey Huggins of the self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia, and representing India was The Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. Members of the Churchill War Cabinet and the High Commissioners of the Dominions also attended.
Ireland did not participate although at the time the British Commonwealth still regarded Ireland as one of its members. Ireland had not participated in any equivalent conferences since 1932.
The British Commonwealth leaders agreed to support the Moscow Declaration and reached agreement regarding their respective roles in the overall Allied war effort.
Prior to the conference, Robert McIntyre and Douglas Young, the leaders of the Scottish National Party, lobbied King, Fraser, Smuts, Huggins, and Curtin, asking them to raise the issue of Scottish independence at the conference and to invite Scotland to take part in it and all future Commonwealth Conferences. Curtin viewed it as an internal matter for the British government, King was sympathetic, and the remainder simply voiced their acknowledgement of the communiques.National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh. Acc. 10090, Papers of Dr Robert Douglas McIntyre, MB ChB, DPH, Duniv, JP. File 19: Letters to Commonwealth Prime Ministers 1944, and argument with Douglas Young 1951. Accessed 6 August 2014.
Churchill failed to obtain the demonstration of Commonwealth solidarity that he had sought. The American journal Business Week concluded that the real winner of the conference was the United States. Churchill omitted the conference in his memories.
Participants Ministers Nation Name Portfolio Winston Churchill Prime Minister (chairman)Churchill at the time was Minister of Defence and First Lord of the Treasury Clement Attlee Deputy Prime MinisterAttlee was at the time Lord President of the Council The Lord Beaverbrook Lord Privy Seal Sir John Anderson Chancellor of the Exchequer Anthony Eden Foreign SecretaryEden was at the time Leader of the House of Commons Herbert Morrison Home SecretaryMorrison was at the time Minister of Home Security The Viscount Cranborne Dominions Secretary Oliver Stanley Colonial Secretary Leo Amery India and Burma Secretary Sir Percy Grigg War Secretary A. V. Alexander First Lord of the Admiralty Sir Archibald Sinclair, Bt Air Secretary Sir Stafford Cripps Minister of Aircraft Production Brendan Bracken Minister of Information Ernest Bevin Minister of Labour and National Service Oliver Lyttelton Minister of Production The Lord Woolton Minister of Reconstruction The Lord Cherwell Paymaster General John Curtin Prime MinisterCurtin was at the time Minister for Defence Coordination Stanley Bruce High Commissioner William Lyon Mackenzie King Prime MinisterMackenzie King was at the time Secretary of State for External Affairs and President of the Privy Council Vincent Massey High Commissioner India Hari Singh The Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir Sir Feroz Khan Noon Delegate Peter Fraser Prime MinisterFraser was at the time Minister of Foreign Affairs Bill Jordan High Commissioner South Africa Jan Smuts Prime MinisterSmuts was at the time Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defence Deneys Reitz High Commissioner Sir Godfrey Huggins Prime MinisterHuggins was also Minister for Native Affairs
Military Service Head Name Army Chief of the Imperial General Staff Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke Navy First Sea Lord Admiral of the Fleet Sir Andrew Cunningham RAF Chief of the Air Staff Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Charles Portal
AUS General Sir Thomas Blamey UK Lieutenant-general Sir Hastings Ismay NZL Lieutenant-general Edward Puttick
Diplomats and civil servants AUS Sir Frederick Shedden Secretary, Department of Defence CAN Norman Robertson UK Sir John Stephenson UK Sir Richard Hopkins Permanent Secretary to the Treasury
See also List of Allied World War II conferences
References