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Andrew Roberts

The Holy Fox: The Life of Lord Halifax Paperback – January 1, 1997

by Andrew Roberts (Author)

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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 Gandhi ended the Civil Disobedience campaign before it could force the British to quit. His meeting with Hitler in 1937 was a milestone in appeasement, yet just days before Munich, Halifax repudiated the policy and demanded 'the destruction of Nazism'. By May 1940, it was he, not Winston Churchill, who was the choice for Britain's war leader. Andrew Roberts has drawn on remarkable private documents to present Lord Halifax as an enigmatic, influential and much-maligned politician.

Print length

360 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Weidenfeld & Nicolson History,
Publication date

January 1, 1997
Dimensions

5.47 x 1.22 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

1857994728
ISBN-13

978-1857994728
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Andrew Roberts
63
Paperback
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Weidenfeld & Nicolson History, (January 1, 1997)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 360 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1857994728
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1857994728
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.07 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.47 x 1.22 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,224,577 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Andrew Roberts

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Andrew Roberts is a writer, speaker and Minister. He served as Fresh Expressions' Director of Training and co-authored the critically acclaimed fresh! an introduction to fresh expressions and pioneer ministry. He also edits Holy Habits Resources and Bible reading notes for BRF.

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Rain_in_Winter

Much Ado about Halifax

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 7, 2016

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Despite the authors claim to the contrary this is a very sympathetic view of Halifax. Its fairly readable but can be laughable in the efforts the author goes too to show Halifax in a favorable light. An example of which is speaking of his great personal bravery as illustrated by his love of fox hunting and bird shooting in the English aristocratic traditional style. The author seems to rely heavily on Halifax's own writings which even he admits seem to have been heavily redacted by Halifax himself with a view to self justification.

5 people found this helpful

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Alexander T. Gafford

gone and forgotten

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 21, 2010

There are probably few American readers who actually have an interest in knowing what kind of person Edward Wood, Lord Halifax, was and what were his real contributions to British governance in the 1930s and 1940s. This is a political biography of the best sort, describing what the subject did and, as much as possible, why he did it. The primary political roles played by Edward Wood and covered in detail in this work are
1. His role in Tory intra party power conflicts in the 1920s
2. His role as Viceroy of India
3. His role as the Chamberlain government Foreign Secretary before and after Munich
4. His role as Churchill's Foreign Secretary
5. His appointment and service as Ambassador to the US
In each of these areas Andrew Roberts explains with impressive research and empathetic understanding the views of contemporaries and the later views of historians. Roberts is sympathetic as well as empathetic to Lord Irwin, later Lord Halifax, without glossing over mistakes or errors of judgement, and he tries to be fair to the character of a quite private person who rarely revealed his feelings to others. The "take aways" in each of the areas covered are as follows.
1. Edward Wood was a more effective and determined political operator than given away by his somewhat otherworldly demeanor.
2. In India his fundemental direction was to move India to self governance and Dominion status along the path of Canada and Australia on a time line of years, not decades. That this could not be ultimately done due to the combination of British Imperial pride and racism and rising Indian nationalism does not d1scredit his effort.
3. The positive aspect of appeasment is seen within its historical context. The moral blindness of a highly moral man like Lord Halifax can best be condemned by comparison to the few who did not share it at the time, not in retrospect. However, at the time of the Munich agreement the scales fell from Halifax's eyes and Roberts makes clear he knew very well that it was not "peace in our time" that had been gained but the promise of war soon. Roberts then convincingly holds that Halifax did everything he could in the following month to prepare Britain for war. The decision of Halifax to refuse the Premiership when Chamberlain fell in 1940 is given full and deserved credit.
4. The critical cabinet discussions about peace terms at the time of Dunkirk are dealt with fully and fairly. Roberts argues that Churchill and Halifax had a disagreement about timing and possiblity, not a disagreement about goals - a free, independent and powerful British Empire was the bottom line for both. Roberts is well aware that many British aristocrats would have accepted some level of German domination but certainly not Halifax.
5. The appointment of Halifax to the US Ambassador postion, and his loyal service there, is seen as the demotion it was and the result of both cabinet politics (see item 1) and Churchill's wishes. In light of Roberts' latest book "Masters and Commanders" it seems not entirely coincidental that the departure of Halifax and the appointment of General Alan Brooke as CIGS came in the same month of December, 1941. Churchill seemed to instinctively know he needed a truly strong person to prevent his enthusiasms and ideas from all being implemented but perhaps he could only tolerate one such other figure close to him.

All in all, a really fine work. One is not obligated to agree with all the conclusions and arguments made to accept the great value of this book in further defining the context of thought, actions and values that drove the critical decisions and actions of the 1930s and 40s.

15 people found this helpful

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T. MacFarlane

Justice for Halifax

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 6, 2005

Halifax reputation suffered, and has continue to suffer, for his name being linked with that of Neville Chamberlain and Appeasement.

In arguing that this judgment is incorrect, Andrew Roberts has given us an important, and detailed revision of the years leading up the Second World War.

He shows that Halifax saw Hitler in his true colours at the time of the Bad Godesberg meetings, and before the Munich Agreement.

From this time on he worked for a more realistic understanding of Hitler's real aims, and for rearmament and conscription.

Halifax came within a whisker of becoming Prime Minister in May 1940; the job was his to refuse. The Tory Party, and the King both wanted him, and it was argued that his place in House Lords was a barrier that could be removed.

Halifax must have realised himself that he was no war leader, and, inspite of massive doubts within the Tory Party, Halifax supported Churchill's claim.

From then on the story which unfolds is much less well known, and invites a re-assessment of Churchill's reputation.

Churchill - known to Halifax as The Rogue Elephant - needed Halifax to argue against his wilder schemes. The book is particularly important on relations with the Vichy regime, the problems associated with the French Navy, and the differences between Halifax and Churchill on how these should be handled.

It is not now very easy to understand that Britain was alone at this juncture, and that American support was very uncertain.

However, Halifax's attachment to Chamberlain's name made him important enemies, one of whom, Roberts reveals, was newspaper magnate Lord Beaverbrook.

When a new ambassador was needed in Washington, Halifax was not the first name mentioned. Beaverbrook saw to it that his name became prominent, and it is a blot on Churchill's reputation that he went along with this idea, almost certainly to rid him of the one minister in his cabinet who could stand up to him.

It is not pleasant reading.

A less time-specific reason for reading this book is that it portrays a now forgotten era when the aristocracy still dominated government in Britain.

Halifax comes across as a figure who eschewed "short termism" - now the current plague of British politics.

Andrew Roberts confirms his reputation as a major historian.

21 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

horryd

The Holy Fox

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 19, 2019

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Almost complete but does not mention the death of Rutherford, or that Halifax's 1938 diary was 'conveniently missing'. (K. Urbach).

Confirms that in late 1939 Admiral John Godfrey was Churchill's protege for the head of the SIS; Halifax prevailed with Menzies. Why was Godfrey dispensable at the NID as early as October 1939?

One person found this helpful

HBH

An interesting analysis

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 4, 2007

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The Holy Fox by Andrew Roberts is a very interesting take on the life of Lord Halifax. Lord Halifax is remembered to history as an arch-appeaser and this was all that I knew of him until I read this book. What I learnt was actually quite fascinating, for example, his role in India and his attempts to maintain order there. However, although Andrew Roberts tries hard to persuade that Halifax was not the arch-appeaser in 1938 or a total defeatist in 1940 his argument just doesn't seem to be strong enough in my opinion to show that history has dealt with Lord Halifax harshly. All in all it is a very good book, with a well-paced narrative as well as some interesting analysis, but at times it does seem to be trying too hard in its efforts to save Halifax from the judgement of history.

9 people found this helpful

Diana

Very badly printed and cover bent - it certainly did ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 22, 2015

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Very badly printed and cover bent - it certainly did not look as new which it was reported to be.

H M Scopes

A reputation in perspective

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 1, 2018

Verified Purchase

Essential reading for anyone who has seen the recent movie on the subject of how Churchill became Prime Minister in 1940

MartinB

Fascinating life of an unlovely man

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 14, 2011

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Halifax was a clever and wily politician who became one of the last Viceroys of India, and went on to be Chamberlain's Foreign Secretary during the Appeasement years. Shifting his beliefs he became a strong anti-appeaser, served as Churchill's first Foreign Secretary, and was then sent to Washington as our ambassador. He stayed there until the end of the war, and returned with Keynes to pursue a dollar loan.

A deeply unattractive person, he is brought vividly to life in this very understanding and even sympathetic biography. The well-known path from Munich until the start of the war is brought vividly to life - and still manages to sweep one along with excitement even though one knows how it all ended!

One person found this helpful

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The Holy Fox: The Life of Lord Halifax Paperback – January 1, 1997

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