Hankey went to Churchill because the First Lord led a technically capable department and was willing to act on unconventional proposals. Churchill's appetite for ideas produced failures as well as successes, yet it made him a useful sponsor for an experimental trial. Prime Minister H. H. Asquith supplies the contrast, with the discussion characterizing him and many contemporaries as inclined to delay a decision. Hankey cared less about who received credit than about finding a way through the trench-warfare deadlock. His choice joined civil-service access, ministerial drive, and Admiralty engineering capacity before any vehicle design had been settled.
Notable Point · 12:50-15:08
Why Hankey took the proposal to Churchill
Hankey chose Churchill because the First Lord controlled a technically capable department and was more willing than a wait-and-see minister to act on an unconventional proposal.