In response to the MAUD Committee report, a nuclear weapons programme was launched. To co-ordinate the effort, a new directorate was created, with the deliberately misleading name of
Tube Alloys for security purposes. Sir
John Anderson, the
Lord President of the Council, became the minister responsible, and
Wallace Akers from ICI was appointed the director of Tube Alloys.
[79] Tube Alloys and the Manhattan Project exchanged information, but did not initially combine their efforts,
[80]ostensibly over concerns about American security. Ironically, it was the British project that had already been penetrated by atomic spies for the Soviet Union.
[81]
The United Kingdom did not have the manpower or resources of the United States, and despite its early and promising start, Tube Alloys fell behind its American counterpart and was dwarfed by it.
[82] The British considered producing an atomic bomb without American help, but the project would have needed overwhelming priority, the projected cost was staggering, disruption to other wartime projects was inevitable, and it was unlikely to be ready in time to affect the outcome of the
war in Europe.
[83]