“We welcome the idea of a National Government.” Herbert Asquith had confirmed in the Commons that the rumours swirling over the formation of a coalition to prosecute the war were true, and that although both his post and that of Sir Edward Grey as Foreign Secretary were sacrosanct, all other posts were open to alteration as to who should fill them (page 9 where the paper merrily speculates as to what will be the outcome). The Telegraph was cheered by this news, its leader on the subject (page 8) claiming that it had wanted such a thing for some time, “suggestions which we refrained from printing for patriotic reasons,” the Liberal Government has been “a little stale” by the time the war began, and that the Conservatives had not sought such a coalition but it was in the best interests of the Empire that they did so.