overseas) and a Home Service Army (for peacetime service at home, and able to be sent overseas in time of crisis). The Militia was not discussed in the proposals, but he undertook to reduce the strength of the Volunteers and split them into first and second-class units. When the debate resumed in the 1905 session, Parliament having been adjourned shortly after the original announcement, it continued to be attacked, and very little progress was made in implementing it; an attempt in June 1905 to confidentially identify Volunteer units likely to be disbanded was reported by the Daily Chronicle, and questions were asked in both Houses of Parliament. Arnold-Forster was forced to back down, suggesting that he only wished to determine what proportion of the Volunteers were capable of foreign service. By the end of this period, the constant attempts at reorganisation had proved a mixed bag, particularly for the auxiliary forces. The Militia was heavily understrength and disorganised, whilst the number of recruits for the Volunteers was falling off and the financial situation of the units was becoming worrying. The system of central per-capita grants helped support the units, despite the worrying side-effect of causing an incentive to keep as many men on the books as possible regardless of fitness, but even so it was becoming apparent that many Volunteer Corps were headed towards financial collapse unless some action were taken. Haldane at the War Office In December 1905, the Balfour government collapsed, and Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman became Prime Minister, leading a minority Liberal government. Richard Haldane was appointed Secretary of State for War, an almost accidental selection—he himself had been aiming to be Lord Chancellor, whilst Campbell-Bannerman offered him the post of Attorney-General, then the Home Office, and had offered the War Office to two other men before Haldane offered to take it. Despite this inauspicious beginning, he would become—in the words of Douglas Haig—"the greatest Secretary of State for War England has ever had". Haldane took the post with no preconceived ideas as to the role of the Army, but quickly settled on the idea that efficiency was essential as a precursor to making financial economies. After a brief hiatus during the 1906 general election, which the Liberals won comfortably, Haldane turned his attention to the Tangier Crisis, which had almost brought France and Germany to war in December. Sir Edward Grey, the Foreign Secretary, had privately agreed