Nonetheless, Vansittart was in high spirits today: the British are gaining victories in Egypt. He said that since the beginning of the war he had never been as optimistic about the future as he was today. It was patently obvious from what he said that the British government had definitively decided on its course for 1941: to try to crush Italy.

Vansittart spoke eloquently and at length about the misunderstanding and underestimation of the English character abroad. It has been so since time immemorial. Napoleon, Bismarck, the kaiser, and now Hitler, Ribbentrop and Mussolini – they all were and are grossly mistaken in fancying the English to be a ‘nation of shopkeepers’, ‘degenerate gentlemen’, ‘depraved plutocrats’, etc., who cannot and will not fight whatever the circumstances. A profound mistake. True, in peace time the English like comfort, convenience, sport, travelling. They dislike drills, gaudy uniforms, goose-step and spurs. They give the impression of being a deeply ‘civilian’, pampered nation. And a little too much fat has grown on their bones in recent decades.

However, if their backs are against the wall and their lives are endangered, if they are irritated or enraged, they change beyond recognition. They become malicious, stubborn, ready to fight like animals and sink their fangs into the enemy. That is why the English, despite entering every war unprepared, with scarce forces and often with poor leaders, never lose wars. This leads Vansittart to the conclusion that England will defeat Germany in 1942 or 1943.

Such is now the typical philosophy of the ruling class, and not of the ruling class alone.