Leo Amery - Rearmament and Appeasement

Rearmament and Appeasement

In the debates on the need for an increased effort to rearm British forces, Amery tended to focus on army affairs, with Churchill speaking more about air defence and Roger Keyes talking about naval affairs. Austen Chamberlain was, until his death, a member of this group as well. While there was no question that Churchill was the most prominent and effective, Amery's work was not insignificant. He was a driving force behind the creation of the Army League, a pressure group designed to keep the needs of the British Army before the public.

In the 1930s, Amery, along with Winston Churchill, was a bitter critic of the appeasement of Nazi Germany, often openly attacking his own party. Being a former Colonial and Dominions Secretary, he was very aware of the views of the dominions and strongly opposed giving Germany back her colonies, a proposal seriously considered by Neville Chamberlain.

On the rearmament question, Amery was consistent. He advocated a higher level of expenditure, but also a reappraisal of priorities through the creation of a top level cabinet position to develop overall defence strategy, so that the increased expenditures could be spent wisely. He thought that either he or Churchill should be given the post. When a ministry for the coordination of defence was finally created under a political lightweight, Sir Thomas Inskip, he regarded it as a joke.

When the war came, Amery was one of the few anti-appeasers who was opposed to co-operation with the Soviet Union in order to defeat Nazi Germany. This came from a lifelong fear of Communism.

It is commonly believed that, when Neville Chamberlain announced his flight to Munich to the cheers of the House, Amery was one of only four members who remained seated (the others were Churchill, Anthony Eden and Harold Nicolson).

Amery differed from Churchill in hoping throughout the 1930s to foster an alliance with Italy to counter the rising strength of Nazi Germany. A united front of Britain, France and Italy would, he felt, have prevented a Nazi takeover of Austria, especially if supported by Czechoslovakia. For this reason he was in favour of appeasing Italy, by tacitly conceding her claims to Ethiopia. A start in this direction was made in the so-called Stresa Front of 1935, but the move by Britain to impose economic sanctions on Italy, after the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1936, drove Italy, he felt, into the arms of Germany.

Another feature of Amery's outlook was a significant distrust of the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This stemmed from the thrust of the American Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, to use all his influence to pressure Canada to oppose Empire Free Trade, perhaps Amery's most cherished project. While the pressure was unsuccessful with Canadian Conservative Prime Minister, Richard Bedford Bennett, his Liberal successor, William Lyon Mackenzie King, adopted a more pro-American stance.