ABSTRACT
The first Coalition Cabinet, upon which the responsibility for the Supreme Command now devolved, included nearly all the more prominent politicians of the day. Birrell retained the Chief Secretary ship of Ireland. Bonar Law, although he was Leader of the Conservative Party, had never been in a Cabinet, contented himself with the Colonial Office, which, also dealt with the Dominions. On the evidence of Bonar Law, the new Government was considered as a stop-gap arrangement, and both parties were watching each other all the time. One other appointment outside the Cabinet deserves notice, that of First Sea Lord, a post of the first importance to the Supreme Command in war, since he is their adviser on all matters of naval strategy. It was mainly events at the Dardanelles that had led to the differences between Churchill and Fisher and caused the change of Government, it was the situation at the Dardanelles to which the Coalition Cabinet first turned its attention.
