"Since war is a vulgar business it was right that the leading unofficial recruiter should have been the greatest vulgarian of the day. Horatio Bottomley, editor of John Bull, was sufficiently moved by the spirit of 1914 to inform his friends that he was making a complete break with his 'sordid past'. His ambition was to be Director of Recruiting, preferably with a seat in the Cabinet, but he was tactfully assured by Asquith that he would be more use to the country in an unofficial capacity. The public who cheered the patriotic speeches of the People's Tribune were unaware of the high fees he received for delivering them (between £50 and £100 a meeting, sometimes more)."