At the moment neither Germany on the one side, nor Britain and France on the other, can make concessions capable of guaranteeing peace. Neither the United States nor the Soviet Union wishes to act as mediator. Mussolini is also silent, and, what’s more, he is not sufficiently respectable. In these circumstances, the continuation of war is inevitable. Especially now, after the sinking of the Royal Oak at Scapa Flow (‘A tidy job!’ L-G exclaimed with a mixture of envy and admiration). The British are furious. Their bulldog instincts have been aroused. Today, the mood in the country is less favourable for peace than it was last week, and it is quite possible that the rally on the 21st will be Lloyd George’s last opportunity to speak about peace in public.

The old man asked whether a peace initiative could be expected from the Soviet Union.

I answered vaguely, for even though I had some grounds for believing that Moscow is discussing the possibility of our mediation, I had no definite information.

‘If only the USSR would act!’ L-G exclaimed. ‘That would have huge significance.’

Then the old man added with a laugh: ‘But of course, if the USSR did want to act, it would have to act not as an “ally” of Germany, but as a genuinely neutral power capable of taking an absolutely independent stand at a peace conference. Otherwise the Soviet proposal would be immediately discredited in the eyes of the British public, and the whole business would collapse.’