"destroy the apathy of a Government which had brought the Empire to the brink of disaster". By the time he wrote 1914 he had come to regard Asquith and Haig as responsible for his removal at the end of 1915, but at the time French was still on good terms with Asquith and wrote to him (20 May 1915, the day before the Daily Mail attacked Kitchener, and whilst Asquith was forming his new coalition government) urging him "as a friend" to sack Kitchener. Holmes believes French's object was to bring down Kitchener rather than the whole government. 1915: Loos and resignation Planning Loos Joffre often wrote to Kitchener complaining about French. Sidney Clive noted (6 June 1915) that meetings between French and Joffre could be counterproductive as "the former is irritable & the latter silent" and that it was best if their staffs agreed on plans beforehand before putting them before the two generals. French thought French War Minister Millerand "a damned socialist little cad" (7 June 1915). Joffre planned once again for attacks by the BEF and French Tenth Army, combined with another French offensive in Champagne. Cavalry, and infantry in buses, were to be ready to exploit as far as Mons and Namur. He wrote to GHQ (12 June) that the ground at Loos (where a British attack could unite with a French attack on Vimy Ridge) was "particularly favourable", although Haig reported (23 June) that the planned ground at Loos was unsuitable for an attack. French visited London (23 June) to talk to Kitchener, with Robertson, whose relations with French were breaking down, remaining behind. At a conference at Chantilly (24 June) French and Joffre agreed that further attacks on the Western Front were needed (to do otherwise was "unfair to Russia, Serbia and Italy") and that they should ask their governments to send all available troops to France rather than other fronts. Asquith had a lengthy discussion (26 June) about the desirability of sacking French. Wilson thought French "ridiculously optimistic about the German state of collapse" and "convinced that the Boches are coming near the end of their reserves" (diary 28 June 1915) while General Haldane thought him "obstinate and unreasonable" (Haldane diary, 30 June 1915). After a "long talk" with Robertson (1 July) the King became convinced that French should be removed. Margot Asquith warned French (2 July) that his aides Freddy Guest and