Our Envoy to Spain
The appointment of Sir Samuel Hoare as special envoy to Spain is a wise step in so far as the importance of his mission is demonstrated by the importance of the position—member- ship of the War Cabinet—he has just vacated. France simi- larly convinced General Franco's Government of the import- ance it attached to good relations between the two countries by accrediting Marshal Petain to Madrid. The attitude of any British Ambassador towards Spain should be made perfectly clear. We are neither attempting nor desiring to bring Spain into the war. General Franco has definitely proclaimed his intention, which we can only approve and applaud, to preserve strict neutrality. The desire of a British Government, some of whose members favoured Nationalist and some Republican Spain in the recent war, is simply to take Spain as it is today and develop with it the old relations of cordial friendship and mutually beneficial commercial relations which have regularly existed between Spain and Britain. It will be Sir Samuel Hoare's task to accomplish that, and he will find it no easy matter to counter the German plotters and intriguers with which Spain still abounds. A friendly Spain would have some influence on Italy's attitude—so long as Italy maintains an attitude still capable of being influenced.
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