Leo Amery

Leo Amery in the Norway Debate, May 7, 1940 Amery sat on the Conservative benches, so his attack on Neville Chamberlain came from the government's own side. He ended by pointing at Chamberlain and borrowing Cromwell's words, "In the name of God, go," the last of them in a near whisper. The next night 41 members who normally backed the government voted with the opposition and an estimated 60 more Conservatives abstained, cutting a notional majority of 213 to 81. The government technically won, but Chamberlain resigned on May 10. Amery himself thought he had helped push Labour into forcing a division at all, a reminder that a speech can matter by making a vote happen.