Then for the ï¬rst time I spoke. I said I would have no communication with either of the Opposition parties until I had the King’s Commission to form a Government. On this the momentous conversation came to an end, and we reverted to our ordinary easy and familiar manners of men who had worked for years together and whose lives in and out of ofï¬ce had been spent in the friendliness of British politics. I then went back to the Admiralty, where, as may well he imagined, much awaited me.
The Dutch Ministers were in my room. Haggard and worn, with horror in their eyes, they had just flown over from Amsterdam. Their country had been attacked without the slightest pretext or warning. The avalanche of ï¬re and steel had rolled across the frontiers, and when resistance broke out and the Dutch frontier guards ï¬red an overwhelming onslaught was made from the air. The whole country was in a state of wild confusion.
the Dutch Ministers seemed unable to understand how the great German nation, which up to the night before had professed nothing but friendship
One can almost see Churchill saying I told you so.