Eden straightaway included Lloyd on the Egypt Committee, along with Salisbury, Macmillan (Chancellor of the Exchequer), Home (Commonwealth Secretary) and Walter Monckton, who was Minister of Defence at the outset of the crisis. Kilmuir (Lord Chancellor) was later added; Butler was initially ill but later took to attending and even on occasion chairing Egypt Committee meetings. The Egypt Committee met for the first time at 7pm on 27 July, and would meet 42 times between then and 9 November. Lloyd preferred negotiations to force and, with his experience of military logistics, was sceptical as to whether a successful invasion could even be mounted.