In April 1940, Woolton was appointed as
Minister of Food by
Neville Chamberlain, one of several ministerial appointments from outside politics. Woolton retained this position until 1943. He supervised 50,000 employees and over a thousand local offices where people could obtain
ration cards. His ministry had a virtual monopoly of all food sold in Britain, whether imported or local. His mission was to guarantee adequate nutrition for everyone. With food supplies cut sharply because of enemy action and the needs of the services,
rationing was essential. Woolton and his advisors had one scheme in mind, but economists convinced them to instead try point rationing. In late June 1940, with a
German invasion threatened, Woolton reassured the public that emergency food stocks were in place that would last "for weeks and weeks" even if the shipping could not get through. He said "iron rations" were stored for use only in great emergency. Other rations were stored in the outskirts of cities liable to German bombing. When
the Blitz began in late summer 1940, he was ready with more than 200 feeding stations in London and other cities under attack. Woolton had the task of overseeing rationing due to wartime shortages. He took the view that it was insufficient to merely impose restrictions but that a programme of advertising to support it was also required. He warned that
meat and
cheese, as well as
bacon and
eggs, were in very short supply and would remain that way. Calling for a simpler diet, he noted that there was plenty of
bread,
potatoes,
vegetable oils, fats, and
milk. By January 1941, the usual overseas food supply had fallen in half. By 1942, however, ample food supplies were arriving through
Lend Lease from the U.S. and a similar Canadian programme. Worried about children, he made sure that by 1942 Britain was providing 650,000 children with free
school meals; about 3,500,000 children received milk at school, in addition to priority supplies at home. However, his
national loaf of
wholemeal brown bread replaced the ordinary
white variety, to the distaste of most housewives. Children learned that sweets supplies were reduced to save shipping space. Woolton kept
food prices down by subsidizing eggs and other items. He promoted recipes that worked well with the rationing system, including the "
Woolton pie," which consisted of
carrots,
parsnips, potatoes, and
turnips in
oatmeal, with a pastry or potato crust, and served with
brown gravy. Woolton's business skills made the Ministry of Food's job a success, and he earned a strong personal popularity despite the shortages. Sworn of the
Privy Council in 1940, Lord Woolton was appointed a
Companion of Honour in 1942. In 1943, Woolton joined the
War Cabinet as
Minister of Reconstruction, taking charge of the difficult task of planning for
post-war Britain and in this role, he appeared on the cover of
Time on the issue of 26 March 1945. In May 1945, he was a member of
Winston Churchill's "Caretaker" Government as
Lord President of the Council. ==Conservative Party Chairman==