There is a saying that says Cao Cao, Cao Cao arrives. Although Edward Bridges did not know this sentence, he did not recite it for long before Norman Brooke came to the Cabinet Secretary's Office.
This is also quite normal. Civil servants in Whitehall must transcend partisanship in order to serve as the lubricant of the government. Civil servants in Whitehall are all selfless gentlemen, so naturally there is nothing to shy away from.
The Cabinet Office was not always right, but for the most part it served successive governments loyally and generally provided a key check on prime ministers who tried to ignore convention and cabinet.
"It's similar to what you said. The Prime Minister also asked me for my suggestion. Of course, it's no accident. Although there was no prior communication, we still came up with an idea." Norman Brooke had just sat down and seemed to have accidentally revealed the following.
What happened in the Prime Minister's Office and what happened.
"It can only be said that when it comes to the right things, smart people always have the same opinion." Edward Bridges gave the other party a look that everyone understood, as if confirming and saying to himself, "There should be no problem.
Bar."
"Because things are universally connected and objective laws, I can't say that it will be successful 100% of the time. But it should exist in accordance with objective laws." Norman Brook said with a serious face, "I still believe the person who said this.
.”
"Who said this sentence? Peter the Younger or Gladiton?" Edward Bridges mentioned the names of two famous prime ministers in the history of the British Empire. Why didn't he remember this sentence?
"Almost, this sentence was actually said by Lenin." Norman Brooke gave Edward Bridges an unexpected name.
Edward Bridges nodded, without any special reaction to the name Lenin, but said, "It is the responsibility of our Cabinet Office to guide the Prime Minister to make the right decision. Look at those impassioned members of Congress,
Maybe he is a future minister or even prime minister."
"Yes!" Norman Brook agreed with the other party's judgment. "They are all kinds of different. They may be an amateur scientist, a philosopher, some horse racing fans and dissolute people, a novelist, a historian
Scientists and famous generals, including the vast majority of mediocre people and a very small number of geniuses.”
"The prime minister and his government who take office will bring a series of policies to be implemented, and the cabinet secretary must use his talents to ensure that the national machinery of the Cabinet Office functions, provides services to the prime minister and his government, and implements policies."
Edward Bridges spoke eloquently, "Norman, it's your turn soon. My colleagues in Whitehall have always been optimistic about you. I will find a place with fireworks and do what I should do, although it will not be good for you."
It’s not that there are no criticisms, but you just have to control yourself to this extent.”
"What was done was not good enough." According to Edward Bridges, these criticisms did not affect him personally, but Norman Brooke did not serve as cabinet secretary for a day, so it still cannot be said that the matter is a foregone conclusion.
Naturally, when I heard some criticisms against him, I wanted Edward Bridges to speak frankly.
"It's nothing, it's just a sense of distance from the Prime Minister. In your work experience, you have maintained good personal relationships with the ministers and Prime Ministers you serve. Some colleagues think that you are too close to these politicians and lack a sense of distance." Edward Burry
Keith crossed his fingers as if recalling and said, "They don't look like our people..."
"Of course I am one of ours!" Norman Brooke said in a long voice with an aggrieved look on his face, "Who slandered a gentleman like this? This is frame-up, persecution, and the most unspeakable slander in the world."
"Of course I approve of you, Norman." Edward Bridges stretched out his hand to signal to calm down. After Norman Brook calmed down, he said with an objective attitude, "You also know that many powerful departments
They are not without ideas. Nothing in this world is logical. As the Cabinet Secretary, I believe that the Cabinet Office has unobjectionable leadership over government departments."
"But in some departments, especially very important departments, they in turn believe that their departments should control the Cabinet Office. As early as Sir Morris established the Cabinet Office, he easily defeated the Home Office, and after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs failed to
After the glorious days, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is now very tame, and the only one that cannot be circumvented is the Ministry of Finance."
"It's the Treasury..." As soon as Norman Brooke heard this, he understood what Edward Bridges meant. He was stopped by the Cabinet Secretary just as he was about to speak.
"The Ministry of Finance will always exist, unless, as the Soviet Union claimed, banknotes are meaningless. I don't know if the Soviets are right, but it is definitely impossible now. Especially our current Prime Minister, who is not very concerned about financial issues.
Extremely concerned, so I would not recommend a knock on the Treasury Department."
In fact, there are no specific selection criteria for cabinet secretaries. The unspoken rules are nothing more than two points. The first point is that they are white men, and the second point is that they were born in England. Civil servants who meet these two points are everywhere. Naturally, many qualified civil servants want them.
Be the most handsome boy.
Norman Brooke listened to what Edward Bridges said, not for any special reason. Edward Bridges did not completely retire, but just left the position of Cabinet Secretary.
Maybe he will need Edward Bridges' help at some point in the future.
In the Cabinet Secretary's Office, the two also discussed how to achieve their goals with General Mountbatten. After all, knighthood is not a hasty matter, and it involves the king himself, so it is impossible to be in such a hurry.
Moreover, Prime Minister Attlee's factors must also be taken into consideration. How to make the Prime Minister feel that this is a reflection of his own authority, rather than being guided, has always been the key to the work of the Cabinet Secretary.
Theoretically, the cabinet secretary has to do everything, but he must be considered to be the prime minister's will and that he has done nothing.
The telegram traveled across the ocean and arrived in the subcontinent in the hot summer. Alan Wilson was not picky. He was quite dissatisfied with the working environment of the Governor's Palace. The ceiling fan hanging on the ceiling was too reluctant to cope with the subcontinent's climate.
Thinking of the impending arrival of Patel, Alan Wilson felt even more reluctant.
It was approaching noon, and Patel himself finally arrived belatedly. I don’t know if he had gone to eat curry, but he didn’t think of coming here until after he finished eating.
"Dear Mr. Patel!" Seeing Patel come in, Alan Wilson stood up and said with a smile, "First of all, I would like to congratulate Mr. Patel for achieving a great victory against the colonial government with the help of many supporters.
We are about to have to disgrace ourselves and pick a suitable time to release most of the innocent Brahmins."
"This is all the credit of Mr. Allen. If all British people were like Mr. Allen, we might not always live a life full of confrontation." With his shiny forehead, Patel also gave
A hypocritical greeting that was both polite and polite.
"A confrontational day is not what we want to see. There is an important matter for Mr. Patel to come here today." Alan Wilson took out an official document from the mainland and handed it to Patel.
He introduced on the side, "The cabinet mission has returned to London and informed the Prime Minister in detail everything it saw in British India. The biggest problem is still the relationship between the Muslim League and the Congress Party regarding British India.
There is some disagreement going forward.”
"Mr. Patel also knows that the British Empire must fully listen to the opinions of all parties. Although the Prime Minister hopes to let go of British India, it is a difficult problem to convince members of Congress. Everyone wants to express their opinions, and everyone still wants to express their opinions.
Everyone is qualified to express their opinions, so this is very difficult to deal with."
"London wants me to go to London?" Patel looked at the telegram and listened to Alan Wilson's complaints and asked, "On behalf of British India, publicly state the position of the Congress Party?"
"Why not? Mr. Patel, the whole world is paying attention to the future of British India." Alan Wilson said that this trip to London may be of great significance. "Who represents the image of British India is very important.
.The person who went to London for the last round table conference was Mr. Gandhi.”
The round table conference was held three times in total. The British King held the first round table conference on the Indian issue in London. Fifty-eight representatives of various Indian princes and factions were present. Ali Jinnah led the Muslim League delegation to participate.
The Congress party boycotted the meeting.
In desperation, the local Governor-General released Gandhi. As the only representative of the Congress Party, Gandhi attended the meeting. At the meeting, he proposed a request to grant India the status of a dominion. Not surprisingly, he was rejected by the British.
In addition, there were different opinions on issues such as the representation of peaceful believers, and the meeting still failed to reach an agreement.
At that time, World War II had not yet broken out, and the British Empire was still an unattainable existence for the subcontinent.
But this time London took the initiative to invite members of the National Congress party to London. The general environment was different from the time more than ten years ago. After Patel was released last time, he turned to support the British Empire. He felt that in
After the war, the time was ripe for India's independence.
If it was he who went to London on behalf of the Congress Party, instead of Nehru, even if Patel could not sideline Nehru when he came back, he would still be able to gain an equal position instead of being behind Nehru.
The last time it was Gandhi who represented the Congress Party, this time it is him Patel, and he deserves all the glory.
"Mr. Patel, the Prime Minister is still waiting for your reply. If I think about it, I will reply to London." Naturally, Alan Wilson did not have clairvoyance to see through Patel's thoughts, but he could see through the other person's life history.
It was also judged that this person really wanted to seize such an opportunity.