It has been suggested that totalitarian States' word could not be trusted and they would be encouraged by signs of weakness, but the issue really was: were you going on for years refusing to face facts and, by destroying your relations with potential enemies, turn them into real enemies?
Continuing, Lord Halifax said, "We are told that the resignation of Mr. Eden marks a complete change of policy. That is not so. In this House on Thursday, I made a speech on the Foreign Policy, of which the then Foreign Secretary entirely approved. What our policy was last week, remains our policy to-day."
Lord Halifax dealt at length with the League of Nations and maintained that the Prime Minister supported the League and had given the assurance that he would not tear one single Article of the Covenant, nor would he abandon even Article XVI in the hope that, some day, the League might be reconstituted in such a form that it would be able to use its Powers and functions as intended.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.