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On Leo Amery's suggestion Wilson's colleague Gerald Ellison was appointed Secretary of the War Office (Reconstitution) Committee (see [[Esher Report]]), which consisted of [[Reginald Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher|Esher]], Admiral [[John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher|John Fisher]] and [[George Clarke, 1st Baron Sydenham of Combe|Sir George Clarke]]. Wilson approved of Esher's aims, but not the whirlwind speed by which he began making changes at the War Office. Wilson impressed Esher, and was put in charge of the new department which managed Staff College, RMA, RMC and officers' promotion exams.<ref>Jeffery 2006, pp. 56–8.</ref> Wilson often travelled around Britain and Ireland to supervise the training of officers and examinations for promotion.<ref>Jeffery 2006, pp. 61–2.</ref>
Wilson attended the first ever General Staff Conference and Staff Ride at Camberley in January 1905.<ref name=jeffery62>Jeffery 2006, p. 62.</ref> He continued to lobby for a General Staff to be set up, especially after the [[Dogger Bank incident]] of October 1904.
The Wilsons had Christmas Dinner with Roberts in 1904 and 1905. Wilson assisted Roberts with his [[House of Lords]] speeches, and the closeness of their relationship attracted disapproval from Lyttelton, and possibly [[John French, 1st Earl of Ypres|French]] and Arnold-Forster. Relations with Lyttelton became more strained in 1905–06, possibly out of jealousy or influenced by Repington.<ref>Jeffery 2006, pp. 60–1.</ref> Wilson had predicted a hung Parliament in [[1906 United Kingdom general election|January 1906]], but to his disgust, "that traitor [[Henry Campbell-Bannerman|C.B.]]" had won a landslide.<ref name=jeffery62/><ref>Campbell-Bannerman had opposed the Unionist Government's "methods of barbarism" in South Africa.</ref>
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