Leslie Trouble

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain has had bad luck with Cabinet Ministers whose Christian names are Leslie. Early this year War Secretary Leslie Hore-Belisha became such a bumptious headache that Mr. Chamberlain dismissed him. By last week Minister of Supply Leslie Burgin had caused so much trouble for the Government that London's censor-controlled newspapers suggested that the Prime Minister had better get rid of this Leslie too.

The "inside" story of the Hore-Belisha dismissal was still last week a well-guarded secret. The cause of the storm over Minister Burgin was crystal clear. Ever since the Prime Minister appointed Mr. Burgin Supply Minister last April Laborite M. P.s have been gunning for him. They were willing to admit that during World War I Leslie Burgin was a fine Army intelligence officer who richly deserved his special citations. Since he collects languages as Franklin Roosevelt collects stamps, and speaks every European tongue and several Asiatic ones, Captain Burgin could interview war prisoners the Allies brought in on any front.

But Laborites had also watched Mr. Burgin as the uninspired successor of dramatic Leslie Hore-Belisha in the Ministry of Transport and had suspected that he did not have enough pep to keep things humming in the newly created Ministry of Supply. Largely because of these suspicions they demanded--and got--a secret session of Parliament in December. Then late in January Laborite M. P. Ernest . Thurtle rose publicly in the House and used some very interesting language. He had found the Supply Ministry peppered with favoritism, if not graft. Scotland Yard got busy, the War Office began investigating and by last week Great Britain had a Government scandal on its hands unequaled since Old Jim Thomas was ousted for giving out budget secrets (TIME, May 25, 1936).

Items:

>Various manufacturers reported they had been approached by persuasive "agents" claiming to have a special in with the Ministry of Supply. Their proposition was to get the manufacturers Government contracts in return for a 3% rake-off.

>Smoothest "agents" threw numerous cocktail parties for industrialists at swanky hotels to which they also invited various minor Ministry officials--or at least men who posed as from the Ministry.

>Out of 50 such "agents," 30 were said to have police records, one was a German who had been classed by a British court as a "friendly enemy alien," several were Russians and Poles.

>Involved in an unexplained way were two well-known wealthy brothers, David and Robert Behar, real-estate operators who claim descent from the old Spanish Dukes of Behar. They were officials of the Ministry of Supply. Bluntly announced Minister Burgin in the House of Commons: "I have come to the conclusion these two gentlemen should not continue to serve on the Ministry of Supply." Commented the Brothers Behar: "There is a lot we could say, but our hands are tied."

>Juiciest bit of scandal was the charge that a Charles Kingsley Scott, also known as Scotnicki, had served time for fraud and had had five bankruptcy petitions filed against him, and yet was one of the Ministry's purchasing agents. It was said that an unnamed colonel of the War Office introduced Purchaser Scotnicki to the Ministry of Supply. The War Office immediately got busy and held a "secret court" behind closed doors, presumably to determine the colonel's guilt.

All in all, the Prime Minister had a first-class mess on his hands. The Gov ernment was expected to push through a law making it illegal for any one to pose as having "pull" with any Ministry. Mean while, London's newspapers pointedly suggested that a good time for the Head of the Government to change Ministers would be during Parliament's forthcoming Easter recess.

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