The American ambassador Kennedy lunched with me today. He takes a gloomy view of British prospects. He doubts that England will be able to wage a long war single-handedly. He accepts the possibility of a German invasion of the isles. He thinks it utterly inevitable that England will be almost completely destroyed by air raids. Kennedy says the United States will be helping England in every way, with arms, aircraft, etc., over the next few months, but will hardly enter into the war before the presidential election, unless something extraordinary happens, such as the Germans using gas. Kennedy scolded the British government for failing to come to an agreement with the Soviet Union last year and said that the upper classes of British society are ‘completely rotten’. A rather unexpected judgement from a man of his status!

Maisky told Bilainkin that ‘Kennedy was sceptical about Britain’s chances of resisting attacks on the island’. He on the other hand, ‘was not pessimistic; everything depends on whether you use your cards, of which you have so many, in the right spirit, with resolution’; Bilainkin, Diary of a Diplomatic Correspondent, p.152, 7 July 1940.

I was in parliament today. Churchill’s statement concerning the latest events in France elicited great anxiety about the fate of the French fleet. People could talk about nothing else in the lobbies. In the corridor I bumped into Lady Astor, who started assuring me that communists are to blame for every evil: they’re the real ‘fifth column’ which prevented France from standing its ground! It was both ridiculous and infuriating. Eventually, my patience ran out and I said rather impolitely: ‘My dear Lady Astor, if you want to see a genuine “fifth column”, just look around you.’

Saw Alexander, first lord of the Admiralty. I asked him about the chances of a German invasion. Alexander assured me categorically that a major invasion was impossible: the navy would not allow it. Even if Hitler sent a thousand planes to attack at once. Alexander spoke guardedly about the future of the French fleet, but said that even if the entire French fleet in the Mediterranean were to fall into German hands, this would not have a decisive effect: the British would not allow the fleet to pass through Gibraltar and the chances of a German invasion of England would not increase. Is that really so?…

Clement Davis,

Clement Edward Davis, supporter of the National Government in the early 1930s, Welsh MP Davis resigned from the Liberal Party in 1939. He subsequently became chairman of the All Party Action Group and later leader of the Liberal Party, 1945–56.

an Independent Liberal MP, dropped in. He is in total despair. He says that the ruling classes of England are rotten through and through and compares their present state to that of the French aristocracy on the eve of the Great French Revolution. Hence their criminally short-sighted policy of recent years, which has led to catastrophe. Even now, with the change of government, the situation remains most unsatisfactory. Morrison and Bevin have done a bit to increase production, but they use old methods and operate within the old framework. As a result, there are still many failures and deficiencies. It is even worse with Churchill. He, of course, is full of determination and desire to carry on the war, but in order to save England at this crucial moment it is necessary to mobilize the enthusiasm of the masses. It is necessary to make this war a ‘people’s war’. That is why Davis launched a campaign for the universal arming of the population two weeks ago. But a different government is needed to awaken the genuine enthusiasm of the people – without Chamberlain, Simon and Co. The masses demand it. A powerful wave of discontent with the present government is rising in the country. But Churchill pays no attention to it and stubbornly protects the men of Munich. Why? Davis thinks he is doing so out of sentimentality: Churchill believes that Chamberlain displayed exceptional ‘nobility’ in ceding the post of prime minister. Total nonsense! Chamberlain simply had no choice. Protecting the men of Munich may eventually lead to an explosion, to the collapse of the present government and its replacement with another one. Davis envisages a government headed by Lloyd George, in which the old man would enlist bold and energetic ‘young men’. But won’t this change occur too late for anything to be done?…

Garvin came for lunch yesterday. He told me about a conversation he had with Ironside at the beginning of the war. Ironside was cock sure at the time. He pictured the war as an extended, calm period of waiting behind the Maginot and Siegfried Lines. The economic blockade was supposed to do the rest. Ironside’s attitude towards Hitler was one of the utmost contempt: ‘What will some degenerate peasant manage to achieve?’