One of the disturbing possibilities in a world full enough
of disturbance without that is of Sir Nevile Henderson being odopted as the Government candidate for the vacancy at Grantham. There may be nothing in this. Sir Nevile's name may have been used in this connexion without his authority. But it is necessary to say plainly that nothing could be more un- fortunate than his return to the House of Commons at this moment. I have not a word to say against Sir Nevile, whom I have never met, personally, and I think many estimates of him are unjust. As he points out in his book, an Ambassador, if he is to be of any use, must try to establish reasonably cordial rela- tions with the chief figures in the government to -which he is accredited. But his friendliness with Goering is hardly an electoral asset, nor is the fact that he is associated permanently in the public mind with a policy of appeasement which may have been unavoidable at the time, but which not many people want to remember. And not in the British public mind only. In America Sir Nevile is known mainly through such books as Ambassador Dodd's Diary. The picture drawn of him there is unsympathetic, and may be in some respects unfair. But there the picture is, and the election of Sir Nevile as Member of Parliament would undoubtedly make the worst impression in the United States. That is a consideration it is impossible to disregard.
Previous page
