Appeal of 18 June as the beginning of the Resistance and Free French, historians have shown that the appeal was heard only by a minority of French people. De Gaulle's 22 June 1940 speech on the BBC was more widely heard. General de Gaulle became the "de facto" leader of the Free French Forces that had escaped to London in June 1940. Marshal Philippe Pétain, a hero of World War I, pledged to sign an armistice with Nazi Germany, and led the collaborating Vichy government while the Germans occupied the country's northern portion and several leading politicians, including Georges Mandel, Leon Blum, Pierre Mendès
Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom) 1940 and Home in 1963), but these were all cases where the Conservative Party was in government and do not affect the list of Leaders of the Opposition. In 1931–32 the Leader of the Labour Party was Arthur Henderson. He was Leader of the Opposition for a short period in 1931, but was ineligible to continue when he lost his seat in the 1931 general election. George Lansbury was Leader of the Opposition before he also became the Leader of the Labour Party in 1932. Leaders of the Opposition, in the two Houses of Parliament, had been generally recognised and