The Holy Fox: The Life of Lord Halifax

It has beeb the misfortune of Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, to be remembered not for his very considerable achievements as a senior Conservative politician and diplomat, but as an architect of the policy of appeasement of Nazi Germany in the 1930’s. A church-going, fox-hunting aristocrat, nicknamed ‘Holy Fox’ by Churchill for his political guide, Halifax’s career in public life spanned the period from the end of the First to the conclusion of the Second World War. As Viceroy of India (1926-31), 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 the 1938 Munich conference, Halifax repudiated the policy and demanded the ‘destruction of Nazism.’ By May 1940, it was he, rather than Winston Churchill, who was the choice for Britains war leader.