Resignation issues
From Guy Millard
Sir: I am always a great admirer of Frank Johnson’s column in The Spectator, but on this occasion (Shared opinion, 11 November) I should add a correction to what he says about Eden’s resignation in 1938.
I do not think that Eden regarded Italy as much of a military threat, though he strongly opposed Mussolini’s intervention in the Spanish Civil War. But he was understandably outraged to discover that behind his back Chamberlain was corresponding with the Italian regime through the intermediary of his sister-in-law, Lady (Austen) Chamberlain. Chamberlain did not keep secret from Eden the offer from Roosevelt of a conference on central Europe. But he rejected it out of hand without consulting him. In the face of the ever growing threat from Germany, Eden considered it a disastrous mistake to snub this American offer of intervention and support. These were the principal reasons for Eden’s resignation. As he was after all foreign secretary, it is hardly surprising that he considered these resignation issues.
Guy Millard
Private Secretary to Sir Anthony Eden, 1955–56, Gloucestershire
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