The controversy about Sir Robert Vansittart's authorship of Black Record
rages unabated, and there is so much to be said on both sides that there is no reason why it should die down for some time. The quite separate questions whether the views and statements presented in Black Record are sound, and whether, however that may be decided, it was proper for Sir Robert as a civil servant to express them, are inevitably being confused. Actually precedents are at a dis- count, for Sir Robert is the first holder of a post, Diplomatic Adviser to the British Government, which fits into no existing category. But what is certain is that Sir Robert's official chief, Lord Halifax, approved the delivery of the broadcast addresses of which Black Record consists. It may have been unwise but it can hardly be considered improper, for the Foreign Secretary to encourage such activity, and no precedent is created for adventures by civil servants into the political sphere without
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