Leo Amery

Leopold Charles Maurice Stennett Amery (22 November 1873 – 16 September 1955), also known as L. S. Amery, was a British Conservative Party politician and journalist. During his career, he was known for his interest in military preparedness, British India and the British Empire and for his opposition to appeasement. He was Secretary of State for the Colonies (1924-29), opposed the National Government of the 1930s and served as Secretary of State for India during the Second World War (1940-45). He was also a prolific writer whose output included a multi-volume history of the Second Boer War and several volumes of memoirs and (posthumously published) diaries.

Nowadays he is best remembered for the remarks he made in the House of Commons on 7 May 1940 during the Norway Debate, attacking the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, for incompetence in the fight against Hitler's Germany. Many of Amery's Parliamentary contemporaries pointed to this speech as one of the key drivers in the division of the House on the following day, 8 May, which led to Chamberlain being forced to resign and his replacement by Winston Churchill. Provided by Wikipedia