Koht revealed that the Allies were about to evacuate Norway. Although Günther never revealed the evacuation plans to the Germans, Koht was heavily criticised for doing so by his colleagues upon his return to Norway. In exile The cabinet eventually fled the country on 7 June. Koht landed in London on 19 June 1940, now heading the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in exile. Norway was now a close ally of the United Kingdom, but Koht was seen as clinging somewhat to his neutrality policy, and not embracing the alliance with the United Kingdom enough. From the autumn of 1940, Trygve Lie championed a change in policy which meant seeking lasting allies in the western world. Koht viewed this as "distrust". A schism between him and the rest of the cabinet grew as it also became known that Koht's Ministry of Foreign Affairs had received reports of a possible forthcoming assault on Norway, without Koht having informed the cabinet thoroughly. Furthermore, there was discontent over Koht's decision to establish the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in exile in Bracknell, several miles west of the cabinet headquarters. Koht was granted leave of absence on 19 November 1940, and ultimately left the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs on 20 February 1941, being succeeded by Trygve Lie. Koht decided to travel to Canada and then the United States. He lived with his daughter Åsa and her family in Washington, DC, returning to Norway after the end of the Second World War. Political legacy Trygve Lie, who after the war had become the first Secretary-General of the United Nations, characterised Koht in his memoirs as an expert on foreign affairs, but introverted. He had relatively little contact with other politicians, kept to himself to study in peace, and spent much time on his extensive writing. Koht reportedly preferred to solve a problem by himself instead of involving co-workers and employees, even the experts in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His way of thinking was logical and rational, but he allegedly nurtured an "exaggerated belief in paragraphs" and a "dogmatic belief in international law", and wrongly thought that other countries would obey formal regulations at most times. Koht had few or no alternatives to his neutrality policy, and in many ways he based his entire career in foreign affairs on that policy. Trygve Lie claimed that before the Second World War, the neutrality