George and Chamberlain are meeting prior to Churchill's arrival, with George having a lack of enthusiasm for having to pick Churchill, but Chamberlain says it's because Churchill was the only one with full support from the opposition. Churchill receives an official telegram from King George VI (Ben Mendelsohn) inviting him to meet at Buckingham Palace. She goes to their bedroom to tell her husband that he has become rude and overbearing, and she would like others to love and respect him the way she does. Elizabeth runs into Churchill's wife Clementine (Kristin Scott Thomas), who is aware of what just happened. Churchill then becomes critical of Elizabeth's work, wherein he proceeds to yell and insult her, driving her out of the room in tears.
Churchill tells Elizabeth to start a new telegram to General Hastings Ismay (Richard Lumsden) in light of the recent news. He then receives a phone call from the ambassador himself to inform Churchill that the German troops have already invaded Holland and Belgium. As she enters his room, Churchill orders Elizabeth to start typing out a telegram to the French ambassador. Elizabeth Layton (Lily James) is beginning her first day of work as secretary to Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman). and nobody else is pleased at this thought. Chamberlain then states that there is only one other man who will be accepted. During a dinner, the men gathered are all in favor of Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax (Stephen Dillane) to be the new prime minister but, while Halifax is grateful for the consideration, he claims his time has not yet come. What they want is a leader who can form a coalition party. Every member of Parliament clamors in anger over Chamberlain's apparent inability to lead them as World War II has already begun, citing him as incompetent. In Britain, Parliament has lost faith in their current prime minister Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) and are already looking to find his replacement.