ABSTRACT
As war approached, the government came under increasing pressure to review its arrangements for economic co-ordination. The familiar warcry of an ‘economic general staff had been raised again in a memorandum to the Lord Privy Seal (Sir Samuel Hoare) from Sir Arthur Salter, Sir George Schuster, and others. The same group suggested an ‘association’ representative of outside interests to work in co-operation with the proposed staff, thus combining the two kinds of approach – the technocratic and the representative – that kept recurring in the 1930s, as they did again in post-war years. Others, including the Prime Minister’s Panel of Industrialists, wanted a department of economic planning. 1
