--- title: Lord Beaverbrook (Max Aitken) url: https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/lord-beaverbrook/ description: 5 verified quotes from Lord Beaverbrook (Max Aitken), Newspaper proprietor; Minister of Aircraft Production (1940 to 1941), Minister of Supply (1941 to… section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: a Second World War naval-intelligence collage of a Pacific theatre map, aerial reconnaissance photographs and radar plots.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-wwii-pacific.jpg) [Quotes](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/) · United Kingdom # Lord Beaverbrook (Max Aitken) ![Lord Beaverbrook seated on a ship's deck, undated](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/images/churchill-government/lord-beaverbrook.jpg) [Photo](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Max_Aitken,_Lord_Beaverbrook_(seated).jpg): Bain News Service, Public domain (Library of Congress: no known restrictions on publication) Newspaper proprietor; Minister of Aircraft Production (1940 to 1941), Minister of Supply (1941 to 1942), Lord Privy Seal (1943 to 1945) · United Kingdom On the regime page: [Churchill wartime government](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/churchill-government/#lord-beaverbrook) 5 quotes, oldest first. [Filter with other speakers](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/#speaker=lord-beaverbrook). 1. > “Now, if I may say so, I am no Communist; I am a Capitalist. I do not favour a sharing of wealth, I want only a sharing of opportunity.” — February 23, 1943 · Speech · London, House of Lords — Beaverbrook, then out of office (he left government in February 1942 and became Lord Privy Seal in September 1943), moved a motion in the House of Lords calling for a Second Front in Europe. Stalin had publicly called for one. — Speech moving a motion on a Second Front in Europe, House of Lords, 23 February 1943 (HL Deb vol. 126, c. 166) [Source](https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1943/feb/23/second-front-in-europe) 2. > “Now there is another story being put about—the danger of Communism in Europe. This is another form of enemy propaganda which is being very widely disseminated. I ask those who take note of it: What is Communism now? Anyway it is certainly not what Communism was in 1917—very far from it.” — February 23, 1943 · Speech · London, House of Lords — Beaverbrook, then out of office (he left government in February 1942 and became Lord Privy Seal in September 1943), moved a motion in the House of Lords calling for a Second Front in Europe. Stalin had publicly called for one. — Speech moving a motion on a Second Front in Europe, House of Lords, 23 February 1943 (HL Deb vol. 126, c. 166) [Source](https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1943/feb/23/second-front-in-europe) 3. > “The fact that help from the West was coming was used by Stalin to the fullest possible extent in sustaining, supporting and uplifting the soldiers who were required to go into battle. That was Russia in 1941, with Stalin convincing his people that help was coming, convincing them of the supplies at his command from the United States and from Britain.” — February 23, 1943 · Speech · London, House of Lords — Beaverbrook, then out of office (he left government in February 1942 and became Lord Privy Seal in September 1943), moved a motion in the House of Lords calling for a Second Front in Europe. Stalin had publicly called for one. — Speech moving a motion on a Second Front in Europe, House of Lords, 23 February 1943 (HL Deb vol. 126, c. 167) [Source](https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1943/feb/23/second-front-in-europe) 4. > “Since time is the first consideration—I think your Lordships will all agree about that—it seems to me that we must now invade North-West Europe. We must now invade in the Mediterranean too; but we must certainly invade from a British base as well as from an African base.” — February 23, 1943 · Speech · London, House of Lords — Beaverbrook, then out of office (he left government in February 1942 and became Lord Privy Seal in September 1943), moved a motion in the House of Lords calling for a Second Front in Europe. Stalin had publicly called for one. — Speech moving a motion on a Second Front in Europe, House of Lords, 23 February 1943 (HL Deb vol. 126, c. 169) [Source](https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1943/feb/23/second-front-in-europe) 5. > “Fifthly, they must complain if there is any default or failure in judgment or duty on the part of the Prime Minister and, as a last resort, bring to an end a Government where the Prime Minister diverges from a sound conception of war policy and strategy.” — April 8, 1943 · Speech · London, House of Lords — Beaverbrook had given notice of a motion calling for a War Cabinet made up wholly of Ministers without departmental duties. This is one of five functions he listed for members of the War Cabinet. — Speech on the War Cabinet, House of Lords, 8 April 1943 (HL Deb vol. 127, c. 117) [Source](https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1943/apr/08/war-cabinet) ## Often attributed, not verified These words circulate under Lord Beaverbrook (Max Aitken)’s name but could not be traced to a source. They are listed so readers can check them, not as Lord Beaverbrook (Max Aitken)’s words. - > “We will turn your pots and pans into Spitfires and Hurricanes, Blenheims and Wellingtons.” — Unverifiable Usually said to come from: Beaverbrook, appeal for aluminium, 9-10 July 1940 (circulated in popular histories and on web pages) — The sentence is repeated on web pages and in secondary works without a source for the original appeal. The Ministry of Aircraft Production notice and the newspaper text of 9-10 July 1940 were not found. - > “Britain will not be involved in a European war this year, or next year either.” — Misattributed Usually said to come from: Daily Express front page, 30 September 1938, owned by Beaverbrook — The sentence is a Daily Express headline and front-page statement, not a statement recorded as Beaverbrook's own words. Secondary sources do not agree on the exact wording or date, and the page itself was not seen.