Sir Herbert Russell was against creating one British department of defence according to the Dutch newspaper Marineblad dated 1936 no. 2

An item referred to the magazine N.M.R. dated 23 January 1936 reported that Sir Herbert Russell was against creating one department of defence. He believed that navy, army and air force needed to be organisational and administrative independent forces. He supported however the idea that the chairman of the imperial defence committee was to be a permanently member with a status of minister.(1)

Note
1. Herbert Henry William Russell (28 March 1869 Kensington, England-23 march 1944 Hampton, England), war journalist and in the 1930 author of novels and books dealing with military issues.