William Tyler
Political Britain Puts its Head in the Sand: 1933-1938
Summary
The 1930s are a difficult period to study because by the end of the decade Britain was once more at war with Germany. Yet not until 1937-1938 had most people in Britain come to a realisation about the nature of Nazism and the danger of war. Yet, the government believed that following a policy of appeasement war could still be averted.
William Tyler
William Tyler has spent his entire professional life in adult education, beginning at Kingsgate College in 1969. He has lectured widely for many public bodies, including the University of Cambridge and the WEA, in addition to speaking to many clubs and societies. In 2009, William was awarded the MBE for services to adult education, and he has previously been a scholar in residence at the London Jewish Cultural Centre.
Naomi, I think the answer is, I think the answer is that they trusted Britain. I’ve been asked this before by, in another context. I think many of the Jews who came before the war, I’ve talked to many, had a confidence in Britain. They didn’t think Britain would give in or thought they had a confidence as deep down did the British people, which emerges when Churchill becomes Prime Minister. I think you’ve got to have lived through it to know why they thought that. But that’s how their reasoning went.
No, there were four men in a meeting. Chamberlain, the chief rep of the Conservative Party, a man called Tom Margerison, Churchill and Halifax. In Churchill’s telling of the story, which is relatively, but not entirely perhaps true, the position was that there was a lot of support for Halifax. But he began, when it looked as though he might get it, he began by saying, well, I’m in the house of lords. It will be very difficult to do it, I don’t think. And he began to talk himself out of it. And Churchill, when offered it, because there was no one else, Halifax talked himself out of it, wrote that “Uncharacteristically, I said very little knowing that the job was mine.” He knew that Halifax was a broken reed and it would be his. it’s an extraordinary story.
Oh my dear, he had absolutely, he knew what knives and forks to use for goodness sake. He was a friend of the royal family. I mean, how could a man like that not become foreign secretary? Look, we’ve had some pretty awful foreign secretaries and I think we’ve got one now. No, it’s, don’t get me on. If we get the politicians we deserve, then we deserved Halifax in the 1930s, but we certainly didn’t deserve him in 1940.