Writing in The Spectator on 2 December, Charles Moore referred to a most cordial meeting between Churchill and Mussolini in 1927. In a letter published in the magazine on 16 December, Alistair Lexden pointed out that the cordiality continued for some years thereafter and that another, more important fascist dictator nearly came Churchill’s way in 1932.
Sir: The British ambassador in Rome recorded that Churchill’s holiday meeting with Mussolini in 1927 (The Spectator Notes, 2 December) produced ‘much mutual appreciation’. For years afterwards the Duce spoke warmly of his visitor; Churchill continued to laud his host as a scourge of communism, hailing him in 1933 as a ‘Roman genius’ and ‘the greatest lawgiver among living men.’ In September 1932 a holiday visit to Munich was scheduled to bring a meeting with another fierce enemy of communism. The Regina Hotel, where Churchill was staying, was the agreed rendezvous. He awaited the arrival of this ‘patriotic German’, having a high regard for ‘men who stand up for their country’, but for some unexplained reason Hitler failed to show up. It was only during the years that followed that Churchill decided that fascism was a greater menace than communism.
Alistair Lexden
House of Lords, London SW1