was that either the CIGS should himself be the Versailles delegate or else the Versailles representative should be clearly subordinate to the CIGS. There was talk of the government falling, and Lloyd George attempted to have Robertson swap jobs with Plumer, then commanding British troops in Italy (Plumer refused). Haig was summoned to London to be consulted; while driving from Victoria Station to 10 Downing Street "by a circuitous route" Derby, who had threatened to resign in protest, told him (9 Feb) Robertson "had lately become most difficult to deal with and lost his temper quickly". Haig, whose relations with Robertson had been deteriorating since at least the Boulogne Conference of September 1917, told Robertson (11 Feb) it was his duty to go to Versailles or anywhere else the government wanted, and advised the King to insist on Robertson going to Versailles. Derby (in Beaverbrook's phrase "left stranded like a whale on a sandbank") withdrew his resignation, which Lloyd George permitted on condition he did not resign again. Four days of argument, 11 February 1918 through to 14 February 1918, now ensued between Robertson and the War Cabinet. The King thought it would be "a national calamity" if Robertson was removed but when told of this Lloyd George told Stamfordham that "he did not share the King's extremely favourable opinion" of Robertson "who had never fought at the Front, had hardly ever visited the trenches, and who was not known by the rank and file" and that the government would resign if the King attempted to block Robertson's removal. Curzon and Balfour were sympathetic to Robertson's position that the Versailles delegate must report to the CIGS, but he lost Balfour's sympathy at a Cabinet meeting on 14 February where he made clear his dislike of Wilson. He had told Stamfordham that he would serve at Versailles under Plumer as CIGS, but not under Wilson "his Junior". As part of Lloyd George's power struggle with Robertson and his press supporters, on 16 February the prominent journalists Gwynne and Repington appeared at Bow Street Magistrates' Court charged with having contravened DORA Regulation 18 by printing articles discussing the conflict between Versailles and the War Office, Lloyd George's plans to concentrate efforts against Turkey, and the failure to keep the Army up to strength. Robertson's wife was in the crowd, as were his colleagues Macdonogh and Maurice. Repington later claimed that Robertson had