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force.57 He told his peers that there had been many uncertainties at the start of the conflict but one of them was not the 'solidarity of the free peoples of the British Empire'. Referring to Churchill's reference to blood and toil, tears and sweat, the same, he said, was true of the Commonwealth which had 'counted the cost and already paid part of the price'. With the prime minister travelling to meet with President Franklin Roosevelt, he also took this opportunity to inform the high commissioners that he intended to be more forceful in the future where the Dominions' interests were concerned. Churchill had recently formed a 'Ministerial Committee on the Middle East' chaired by Eden, the secretary of state for war, and assisted by Amery, now secretary of state for India, and Lord Lloyd, the secretary of states for the colonies.58 At the end of July this had invited Australia and New Zealand to deploy any forces they could spare to the Middle East, but Inskip resolved that more needed to be done. Doubts persisted about whether their respective governments had been informed in advance or not about the formation of the committee and what priority would be applied to deciding upon requirements for equipment. But it was with an almost self-congratulatory tone that the high commissioners subsequently noted that Egypt was going to become the focus of attention for Australian and New Zealand forces.59 What they did not know was that the debate about whether Australian troops already garrisoned in Britain should be despatched to the Middle East or not would actually continue at the highest levels long into the following month.60

Events surrounding Operation Menace, the attempt to seize the West African port of Dakar from Vichy French control, gave a good indication of how the alliance was actually operating. With this announcement all of the Dominions were deeply concerned about the lack of information they had received; the first reference given to them only came after the raid had failed.61 Churchill would later admit that he had kept Smuts alone informed and even this only amounted to a single personal telegram containing a few details.62 When the other prime ministers were finally told of the full events and, specifically, the degree to which the enterprise had proven to be a great failure, there was a strong reaction. This was most pointed from Menzies even though the political ramifications of the aborted raid appearing to be less damaging for him than for his counterparts in Canada or the Union of South Africa. While Ottawa feared what reaction the attack on French territory and shipping would produce in Quebec and Smuts was worried about emphasizing the strategic value of Dakar to the enemy, Australia could claim few such strategic concerns. The cruiser HMAS Australia had, however, been used without his being informed in advance and this was sufficient cause for him to at once fly into a fury, issuing criticisms which Churchill took as being a personal attack.63 Waterson recorded that the raid had been 'an even more grisly failure than one thought', noting that 'the whole thing bears the stamp of WSC, a good idea badly executed'.64 Fortunately there was a good deal of 'damage control' administered by the DO, supported in this instance by Bruce, and this helped ensure that the recriminations quickly subsided.65 By the beginning of October the matter appeared forgotten, the final note from Churchill to his Australian counterpart asking that he be forgiven 'if I responded too controversially to what I thought was somewhat severe criticism'.66

With the high commissioners stamping outside the door of the Dominions secretary if they were kept waiting for meetings, the apparently fraught alliance was a constant source of strain within Whitehall throughout the summer months. Eric Machtig, the DO's deputy-head, recorded that his colleagues had been left 'feeling rather tired', and this was not helped by them all having to run for the air-raid shelters on several occasions. Added to this were fire-watching duties organized on a