backed French plans for a revival of the Salonika front strategy of World War II and urged at meetings of the Supreme War Council for British and French troops to land at Thessaloniki. In that, he was against the British government, which opposed the French plans for a "second front" in the Balkans under the grounds that it was unclear whether Italy intended to remain neutral or not. Lloyd enlisted the aid of Foreign Office officials such as Robert Bruce Lockhart who summarised his thesis: "Lloyd says that the only argument in the Balkans is strength. If we do nothing we shall lose everything. If we are vigorous we have the support of the Balkans. Therefore, without too much consideration of Italy we must go ahead with the formation of the Near Eastern force". In response to objections from Sir Percy Loraine, the British ambassador in Rome, that he was not certain how long Italy would remain neutral, Lloyd argued that Britain should just ignore the possibility of Italy entering the war but start troops to Thessaloniki at once. At the same time, Lloyd advised Halifax that Britain should start shipping weapons to Yugoslavia at once to indicate that Britain was serious about defending the Balkans. In January 1940, Lloyd wrote to Loraine that Benito Mussolini respected only force and of his belief that if the Allies landed in the Balkans, that was likely to persuade Mussolini to continue Italian neutrality. Evaluation In January 1940, the attention of the Supreme War Council shifted towards Scandinavia, and the Balkan plan was abandoned. Lloyd's major interest in February to March 1940 was in building a "British Institute" in Bucharest to promote British culture, who was supported by Lord Halifax against objections from the Treasury that it was a waste of money in wartime. In an assessment of Lloyd's work in the Balkans, Atherton wrote: "His position was an ambivalent one: neither a diplomat nor a politician, but a peer with a semi-official position and influential political contacts. It was also increasingly irregular, but despite his opposition to the Munich agreement and, after September 1938, to further appeasement of Germany, Chamberlain never sought his removal". In cabinet When Churchill became prime minister in May 1940, he appointed Lloyd as Secretary of State for the Colonies and in December, he conferred on Lloyd the additional job of Leader of the House of Lords. London