Video: 'Hitler Strikes in the West - The Invasion of the Benelux - WW2 - 037 - May 11 1940' (Norway debate at 1:11)

(Tuesday, May 7, 1940, 2:45 p.m. BST; during the Norway Debate, part of World War II) — The Norway Debate, sometimes called the Narvik Debate, a momentous debate in the British House of Commons during the Second World War, began this afternoon in London.

Initiated by an adjournment motion enabling the Commons to freely discuss the progress of the Norwegian Campaign, the debate quickly brought to a head widespread dissatisfaction with the overall conduct of the war by Neville Chamberlain’s government.

Video: 'The World At War 1973(World War II Documentary) 02.Distant War (September 1939 – May 1940)' (Norway debate at 43:25)

There were calls for national unity to be established by formation of an all-party coalition, but it was not possible for Chamberlain to reach agreement with the opposition Labour and Liberal parties. They refused to serve under him, though they would accept a different Conservative as Prime Minister.

At the end of the second day, the members held a vote of no confidence which was won by the government, but with a drastically reduced majority.

This led, on May 10, 1940, to Chamberlain’s resignation as Prime Minister and the replacement of his war ministry by a broadly-based coalition government which, under Winston Churchill, governed the United Kingdom until the end of the war in Europe in May 1945.