‘Reverence for the old, dislike of things new, made it indubitable that his sympathies in matters of religion would be Catholic, and cast him back in the middle of contemporary difficulties upon what he regarded as his sheet anchor — the ancient consent of the Universal Church. At the same time allowance must be made, in the cause of charity, for past mistakes. “Dissenters” he used to say “should be dealt with lovingly and forbearingly”’.

‘When I heard your wireless address to the young some weeks ago I felt it was saying in more measured language exactly what I had been saying to the students at Aberystwyth a few weeks before. It is not worth your while to read my remarks, but I think it is rather interesting to see how you from your Conservatism and I from my Liberalism come to so much the same conclusion about the present dangers of the world’.

‘Have you really quite decided to go? If you go the country will be plunged back into party politics and union will vanish and our enemies rejoice. There is no member of the House on either side who wants you to go, who would not rather have you than Neville. I believe every member of your Cabinet feels the same — I have better means of knowing than you have”.