Rise of Neville Chamberlain the job, with responsibility for co-ordinating conscription and ensuring that essential war industries were able to function with sufficient workforces. Though reluctant to leave his post in Birmingham, Chamberlain accepted and resigned as Lord Mayor. To a great extent Chamberlain's actual responsibilities were left vague by Lloyd George. On his appointment Lloyd George implied in the House of Commons that "compulsion" (the industrial equivalent of conscription) was to be extended to industry and that Chamberlain would soon produce a system of industrial enrolment. But Chamberlain found his work to be handicapped by the Prime Minister's political manoeuvres. As Chamberlain sought
Neville Chamberlain leaked of the outcome of the meetings before Chamberlain's return, causing delight among many in London but gloom for Churchill and his supporters. Chamberlain returned to London in triumph. Large crowds mobbed Heston, where he was met by the Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of Clarendon, who gave him a letter from King George VI assuring him of the Empire's lasting gratitude and urging him to come straight to Buckingham Palace to report. The streets were so packed with cheering people that it took Chamberlain an hour and a half to journey the nine miles (14 km) from Heston to the