Beautifully written, surprising and captivating account of the first months of World War 2, and how Churchill came to be asked by the King to be Prime Minister, against all expectations. Churchill had a lot of responsibility for the fiasco of the allied response to the first real hostilities with Hitler’s invasion of Norway, and this should have disqualified him from the biggest role, but somehow Chamberlain took the fall. Strongly recommended. ( )

The selection of Winston Churchill as Neville Chamberlain's successor in May 1940 is regarded today as one of the most pivotal moments of the 20th century. With his elevation to the premiership Britain was committed to a course of action in the Second World War that ended with victory over Nazi Germany. Given his role in the Allied triumph and subsequent anointing as the greatest Briton ever, such a choice can be perceived as inevitable. Yet was it?

One of the great merits of Nicholas Shakespeare's account of the events surrounding the decision is in his detailing the views of the key actors in the spring of 1940 and the choices available to them. In the process, not only does he demonstrate that Churchill's selection was far from ordained, but he also shows that it was more than a simple choice between Churchill and Lord Halifax traditionally described in most accounts of the event. As Shakespeare explains, ministers and Members of Parliament had several alternatives available to them. For many of them, Churchill was an unacceptable choice for the top post given his recklessness and adventurism, while others seemed much more appealing candidates. Even the very notion that Chamberlain needed to be replaced because of the military debacle in Norway the month before was not generally accepted, and only emerged over the course of the "Norway debate" and the subsequent division that exposed the weakness of Chamberlain's support.

To detail the events of May 1940 and uncover the thinking of the various people involved Shakespeare went beyond the traditional accounts in memoirs and biographies and undertook additional archival research and interviews. This he knits together in a narrative to which he brings all his skills as a novelist, making for an account that is highly engaging. By comparing the at times conflicting accounts and retrospective explanations, he has produced a very detailed description of how it came down in the end to Churchill. Yet it is also an incredibly chummy account, almost exclusively focused upon the actions and decisions of a select group of elite men (and even a couple of women). While this is understandable given the small circle of people in politics and media at the time, the weaknesses in this approach are more evident in the account of the Norway disaster that precedes it. Given its importance to the events that followed Shakespeare spends a third of the book describing its failings, yet his account of events concentrates on the experiences of key officers and government officials, creating the impression that it was merely their personal experiences which drove their objections to Chamberlain rather than the broader defeat that informed their criticisms of his handling of the war.

By narrowing his focus to a group of elite figures (one that includes his own uncle), Shakespeare trivializes the motivations of many of the men involved in the decision to turn out Chamberlain. It's a glaring flaw in what is in many respects an excellent book, one that details the chain of events that would define the course of world history. It is especially unfortunate, given that Shakespeare's extensive research and ability as a writer have produced what is the best account yet of how Churchill became prime minister in those fateful weeks in the spring of 1940. Its weaknesses, however, cause it to fall short of the definitive account it could have been with just a broadening of its scope. ( )

Interesting on the Norway campaign in 1940, then very well researched and completely inconsequential. ( )

This book is straight from the heart of the Conservative Party of 1929 to 1940. it is a world strange to most folk alive today. Mr. Shakespeare assumes the mantle of his uncle Geoffrey Shakespeare a minor player in the period where Neville Chamberlain retired, and Winston Churchill was appointed Prime Minister. The title is a bit of a tribute to John Lukacs, whose work in the same period seemed to be steadily narrowing in scope. But the world revealed here is not the more broadly defined area of exterior UK politics but is claustrophobically narrowed to the machinations inside the Conservative party and its' aristocratic connections. These are the people who believed firmly that "Winston has energy but no judgement" and who very grudgingly accepted the decision of Edward Wood, Lord Halifax that he was not going to accept the post of Prime Minister, especially after the disastrous Norwegian fighting of April 1940. For a student of the period this is a necessary book, and the footnoting seems precise. But to a more democratic sensitivity like myself, these people did not deserve to conduct the war once their aims and ambitions have been revealed. The book leaves a sensation that most British tories would have given up in June of 1940. ( )

Six minutes in May refers to a division which occurred in the House of Commons on 7 May 1940, where more than 40 conservatives crossed the floor to vote against the adjournment of the debate about the disastrous Allied campaign in Norway. Although the government of Neville Chamberlain won the vote comfortably, the instant realization from all, including Chamberlain himself, was that his prime ministership was finished. All that remained to be decided was who would succeed him. Just about everyone from the King downwards expected and wanted the quiet, pious Lord Halifax to take over, only 2 people demurred form this view, Winston Churchill and Halifax himself. The machinations that led to the deeply unpopular Churchill, seen as an ageing warmonger with a history of bungled campaigns going back to Gallipolli in 1915, becoming Prime Minister, form the core of this engrossing book. The finale sees Churchill enshrined as PM at virtually the same time Hitler's armies storm into France and the Low Countries, a coinciding of events that literally changes history. An enthralling read about military disaster, political bastardry and clashing personalities, really gripping stuff. A great read. ( )