There are a few political moments that are rooted in people’s minds such as Neville Chamberlain’s view at the Heston Aerodrome, shortly after he returned from the Munich Conference, wrote his paper and declared that peace and the Nazi party were protected.
Munich has become a hotbed of fear in the face of violent crime. Chamberlain is fascinated by the derogatory remarks that should be made at any time during a conversation that one might want to ridicule.
Winston Churchill’s analysis of entertainment is universally accepted so every attempt to revive the history of its predecessors has failed. No politician anywhere can compare to Chamberlain, no leader who likes to present himself as the new Neville. Even this week the Tory MP who wants to step down from Boris Johnson insulted the Prime Minister in the spirit of the incumbents who wanted Chamberlain to step down. Which should belong to Churchillian, not Chamberlainian.
Only Chamberlain is Today the Tories need to be compared and Neville’s father, Joseph, and that’s why most people don’t know anything about his time as a colonial secretary.
Historians, for more than 50 years, have been working to paint a picture of the former prime minister as he is not a cowardly leader but a clever test of Britain’s weaknesses, playing a game when the country planned and tried to save a generation. who lived through the first world war and the second world war.
Yet it makes a little difference. This interesting story is very clear. And since the Nazi party was worse than it had been before the war, no one knew that their allies could come out safe and sound. No matter what the character traits, “peace with Hitler” always comes at the top of your CV.
Nonetheless, a new test of redemption is hitting our screen with the release of the film Munich: Edge of War, imitation Robert Harris book. Harris has been adamant that history has made Chamberlain difficult and wants us to see him as a “sad hero” and not a deceiver. To achieve this, he got the job of Jeremy Irons to impress the former Prime Minister with an influence that the calm and cool Chamberlain did not have.
As a prolific writer, Harris recognizes the importance of controversial the subject. His story was good, and I look forward to making the film. But there is no way back to Chamberlain. It is very useful as it is.
The country, the world, does not want to look back on Munich because the peace deal was not just history. It was a very important moral issue. Munich and pleasure is ample proof that one cannot do anything wrong and that you always have to deal with bullies, because weakness only motivates them. It has been prayed for to help with almost every dispute since then, even in disasters like Suez. We do not want the best-selling author to confuse the subject.
It is also, by accident and to a lesser extent, a dispute over the intervention of freedom. Failure to confront dictatorial regimes and violations of human rights is often dismissed as fun. What was Munich but a temporary peaceful trade in human trafficking is a part of the fascist regime? But even those who want to reverse the Western intervention do not want to reform Chamberlain. If we want a warning story, well, Tony Blair has our backs.
The world does not want Neville Chamberlain to be brave, charismatic, and magical. It wants him to crave, the cold, the nonsense and to sell the Czechs and all over Europe. We love the story of Churchill as Britain boldly stood up against the greatest evil the world has ever seen. We do not want to be reminded of what Chamberlain did before he became prime minister. We like to remember our leaders for one thing only. Very simple that way.
For Chamberlain to be correct, Churchill must have been wrong and that is not the case. You can throw Daniel Craig or Ryan Reynolds into office and get him to drop bombshells that didn’t explode inside Buckingham Palace, but he doesn’t come to the forefront of the controversy.
I’m a big fan of history, but I’m not flying this time. It may be sensational but to create shades of gray that perhaps a global Manichean conflict is unnecessary, is futile. The world and the world have myths and they help us better, except when the times are not.
To quote the conclusion of one prominent Western figure: “If the story is true, then publish the story.” The nation does not want its revolutionary Nevilles and its Munich masters. Enjoy the movie, but my bet is that we will follow this story.
Follow Robert on Twitter @robertshrimsley and send him an email robert.shrimsley@ft.com
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