Guilty Men by Cato

Author:Cato [Michael Foot, Peter Howard and Frank Owen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571280940
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2011-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER IX

UMBRELLA DEBATE

THE CAST:

Mr. Chamberlain, Sir Thomas Inskip, and Sir John Simon

FOR THE FIRST two days of the next week Parliament discussed the decision reached by the Premier at Munich. Throughout this debate the mood of hysterical approbation was prolonged. M.P.s vied with each other in their exertions to lick the hand of the Premier—or even touch the hem of his garment in debate.

Mr. Victor Raikes, the Tory Member for S.E. Essex, gave expression to the sentiment of at least five out of six M.P.s of all parties at that moment when he exclaimed, “There should be full appreciation of the fact that our leader will go down to history as the greatest European statesman of this or any other time.”

It is true that the Parliamentary proceedings began with an unhappy episode. Mr. Duff Cooper rose and explained to the House of Commons that he so utterly disapproved of the Munich deal that he had resigned from the Government. (Mr. Duff Cooper, as First Lord of the Admiralty, had been responsible for mobilising the British Fleet while Sir Horace Wilson was in Berlin. Mr. Duff Cooper appeared to think, probably correctly, that his deed rather than the words of Sir Horace had influenced Hitler’s mood when he invited Mr. Chamberlain to Munich.)

Mr. Duff Cooper performed an act of high political courage in resigning when he did. It is an easy thing to leave a Government which is struggling in the trough of the waves, pursuing a policy unpopular with the public (vide Mr. Eden’s resignation on the grounds that Mr. Chamberlain should not trust Mussolini). It is far harder to leap overboard from the ship of state when it is at the crest, curling through the waters, in the sunshine of public approbation.

In his personal explanation to the House of Commons Mr. Duff Cooper remarked, “When we were discussing the Godesberg ultimatum, I said that if I were a party to persuading or even to suggesting to the Czechoslovak Government that they should accept that ultimatum, I should never be able to hold up my head again … I have ruined, perhaps, my political career. But that is a little matter. I have retained something which is to me of great value—I can still walk about the world with my head erect.”

Mr. Duff Cooper’s resignation was brushed aside by Mr. Chamberlain, who gave an account of his dealings with Hider. He justified his actions by saying that under the new system of guarantees the new Czechoslovakia would find a greater security than she had ever enjoyed in the past. In addition he announced that the British Government were going to make a present of £30,000,000 to the Czechs to help them overcome the economic difficulties they would be bound to meet on account of their loss of valuable territory.

Outside in the Smoke Room, while the debate was going on, an incident occurred which was never reported in the newspapers. One of Duff Cooper’s friends remarked, “The world is changing. Values have improved.

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