In May 1915, Repington personally witnessed the failed British attack at Aubers Ridge in Artois, and was particularly moved by the casualties sustained by his old Corps the Rifle Brigade in the action. He dispatched a telegram to The Times blaming a lack of artillery ammunition available for the British Expeditionary Force, which, despite being heavily censored, was printed after Sir John French's aide Brinsley Fitzgerald assured him of French's tacit approval. Repington later emphatically denied that French had spoken to him on the issue, but French had in fact supplied Repington with information for the story.Repington, The First World War 1914–1918, Vol.1, London: Constable, pp. 36–37Holmes 2004, p. 287 The appearance of this story in The Times and later in the Daily Mail, resulted in a political scandal which contributed to the creation of a separate Ministry of Munitions under the future Prime Minister David Lloyd George, and a reduction in the power of the War Secretary Lord Kitchener. Such blatant meddling in politics also damaged the authority Sir John French as Commander-in-Chief of the B.E.F. and contributed to his enforced resignation from the post at the end of 1915. The affair had given Repington substantial influence over military policy via his newspaper reports, but he was personally temporarily prohibited from visiting the Western Front again until March 1916.
