A War Cabinet is a committee formed by a government in time of war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers. It is also quite common for a War Cabinet to have senior military officers and opposition politicians as members.

United Kingdom

First World War

During the First World War, David Lloyd George formed a War Cabinet when he became Prime Minister in December 1916. Members of the Cabinet were:

• David Lloyd George
• Lord Curzon of Kedleston (Lord President of the Council)
• Andrew Bonar Law (Chancellor of the Exchequer)

Other members:

• Arthur Henderson (December 1916 - August 1917)
• Lord Milner (December 1916 - April 1918)
• Jan Smuts (June 1917 - January 1919)
• George Barnes (May 1917 - January 1919)
• Sir Austen Chamberlain (April 1918 - October 1919)
• Sir Eric Geddes (January 1919 - October 1919)

From the northern spring of 1917, the British war cabinet was superseded by the Imperial War Cabinet, which had representation from the Dominions. Its members were:

• Lloyd George
• Sir Robert Borden, Prime Minister of Canada
• Louis Botha, Prime Minister of South Africa
• Billy Hughes, Prime Minister of Australia
• William Massey, Prime Minister of New Zealand
• Jan Smuts
• the British Secretary of State for India and other senior ministers from Britain and the dominions.

Second World War

When he became Prime Minister during the Second World War, Winston Churchill formed a War Cabinet, initially consisting of the following:

• Winston Churchill (Conservative)
• Neville Chamberlain (Conservative)
• Clement Attlee (Labour)
• Lord Halifax (Conservative)
• Arthur Greenwood (Labour)

It would undergo many changes in composition over the next five years.

United States

In response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, United States President George W. Bush created a War Cabinet. They met at Camp David on the weekend of September 15 to shape what became the War on Terrorism.

The Cabinet comprised Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, George Tenet, Hugh Shelton, John Ashcroft, Paul O'Neill, Karen Hughes, Ari Fleischer, Robert Mueller, Paul Wolfowitz, and Andy Card. Some of their spouses were also on this retreat.