Though prohibited by Moscow from taking any initiative, Maisky was working frenziedly behind the scenes to exert pressure on Chamberlain. On the morning of 30 March, Greenwood had learned of the guarantees from Chamberlain, who was anxious to receive at least tacit Soviet support. Quoting from Cadogan’s report on his meeting with Maisky, which was lying on the desk, Chamberlain assured Greenwood that Maisky seemed to be ‘satisfied with this formula’. Shortly afterwards, however, as he had suspected, Dalton found the ambassador seriously irritated ‘because he was out of touch’: he had not met Halifax since 19 March and felt unable to advise his government, which was pressing him for information. Likewise, Beatrice Webb, who visited Maisky at the embassy the following morning as he anxiously waited to be summoned to Whitehall, found him distrustful of the British and the French governments, which he suspected were seeking a pact with Poland ‘omitting the Soviet Union and even antagonistic to its interests’. Without delay, Dalton sought a second meeting with Chamberlain late at night. The prime minister, however, was reluctant to bring the Russians in because of the fierce opposition of other countries; Dalton, Fateful Years, p. 237–8; Webb, diary, 31 March 1939, p. 6639.

Anxious to avoid the meeting, Halifax informed Cabinet that he ‘had not been able to see M. Maisky that morning as the Ambassador was not available. He hoped to see him before 3 o’clock. If this was not possible, he intended to send a telephone message to Moscow.’ But Maisky, who met Lloyd George’s secretary that morning, complained to him that ‘[Halifax] asked me to come at 10.30 this morning. Half an hour ago he rang up again to say he could not see me now and he would communicate later;’ TNA CAB 23/98 17(39), 31 March 1939; Lloyd George papers, LG/G/130, Sylvester to Lloyd George, 31 March 1939.

Halifax told Cabinet that his main concern was the impact which consultations with the Russians might have on the Poles. As for Maisky, he expected him to be ‘perfectly satisfied’ and to say that the Russians ‘were willing to help us if they were allowed to do so’; TNA CAB 23/98 17(39), 31 March 1939.

Maisky expected the declaration to resuscitate the battered collective security. His reservations reflected the extreme caution he assumed in his communications with Moscow, having been prohibited from making any initiatives. He preferred, therefore, to describe the tough line he had taken with Halifax, discouraging Chamberlain from making any reference to Russia in the anticipated parliamentary debate. However, it emerges from Halifax’s report that he had been given the green light by Maisky after offering an assurance that the guarantees were only an emergency measure and would be followed up by further consultations with the Russians. ‘The Ambassador,’ Halifax concluded his report, ‘finally did not raise objection to a statement being made on the Prime Minister’s authority to the effect that His Majesty’s Government had reason to suppose that the Soviet Government would not find themselves other than in agreement with our declaration.’ Moreover, Maisky emphasized that, if implemented, the policy would dovetail with Stalin’s ‘chestnuts speech’ promising assistance to the victims of aggression, the text of which he promptly sent Halifax once the meeting was over; God Krizisa, I, no. 246, Maisky to Litvinov; TNA FO 371 23015 C4528/54/18, Halifax’s report, 31 March 1939; RAN f.1702 op.4 d.892 l.3 & d.1290 l.3, exchange between Maisky and Halifax, 31 March and 3 April. Maisky’s reserved support is also clear in TNA FO 371 23016, C4575/54/18, Halifax to Seeds, 4 April 1939. Maisky further exerted subtle pressure on Litvinov, seeking permission to maintain more frequent contact with the Foreign Office. To cover his tracks (and in order to vilify the British during the Cold War), in his memoirs Maisky chose to paint a highly dramatic narrative of his gallant stance during the meeting, which he even suggested took place with Chamberlain rather than with Halifax; VSD, p. 384 and Who Helped Hitler?, pp. 106–8.