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Edward Wood, 3rd
Viscount Halifax, was a church-going, fox-hunting aristocrat,
but it was his political guile that earned him Churchill's
nickname 'The Holy Fox'. As Viceroy of India, his deal with
Mahatma Gandhi ended the Civil Disobedience campaign before
it could force the British to quit the sub-continent. His
meeting in 1937 was a milestone in appeasement, yet just days
before Munich, Halifax - by then Neville Chamberlain's foreign
secretary - repudiated the policy and demanded 'the destruction
of Nazism'. By the time Hitler unleashed Blitzkrieg on the
West in May 1940 it was Halifax, not Winston Churchill, who
was many people's first choice for Prime Minister.
This was the first
biography of Lord Halifax for over 25 years and the only one
to make use of the official papers that were made available
under the 30- and 50-year rules. I was granted access to many
remarkable documents hitherto closed to historians, including
a note regarding peace negotiations with Germany that Winston
Churchill passed to Halifax in Cabinet in May 1940. My interpretation
of Halifax's life and political contribution was at variance
with the popular opinion of this enigmatic, influential and
much-maligned politician, but mine is, I believe, the view
that has now won general acceptance.
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