 In the wartime government under Winston Churchill, he was Minister of Supply in 1942, and Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 1942 to 1944.He was sworn of the Privy Council in the 1944 New Year Honours, and served as Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1944 to 1946.After retiring from the House of Commons at the 1955 general election, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Clitheroe, "of Downham in the County Palatine of Lancaster", on 21 June 1955.