A visit out of the blue from Sir George Paish yesterday, even though it was Sunday. He’d obviously come on behalf of the League of Nations Union. He related the following details of the ‘peace plan’. Baldwin, as well as Hoare, is responsible for it and was informed about it in due time. Laval ‘frightened’ Hoare (and Baldwin) by refusing to support the British fleet in the Mediterranean, lest Mussolini decide to attack it as a result of oil sanctions. The British sounded out Yugoslavia, but she, too, refused (most likely at France’s bidding) to help England in case of need with sea ports, aeroplanes, etc… That is why Hoare and Baldwin approved the Paris plan. How easily ‘frightened’ the British ministers are! It is as if they want to be ‘frightened’. It’s impossible to believe that Mussolini would take the risk of attacking the British navy, even under the worst circumstances. And suppose he did attack – would the British not be able to hit back? These are all children’s tales. Nobody was ‘frightened’. It seems to me that the British actions proceeded from the desire to have done with the Italo-Abyssinian conflict and free their hands to act in the Far East and Europe (Germany!). At the same time, they want an end to the conflict which would not harm the ‘prestige’ of the white man. Despite the widely spread rumours to the contrary, the English do not want to overthrow Mussolini: it is too dangerous in terms of foreign policy and in terms of facilitating class struggle.