Publisher's Synopsis
Robert Bernays was elected to the House of Commons in 1931, at the age of 29. This archive material consists of his weekly letters and diary entries, which provide unvarnished portraits of the "big guns" of the government and social milieu: Ramsey MacDonald (whom he called a "nincompoop"), Baldwin, Anthony Eden, Hoare, Churchill, Chamberlain. Bernays covers the Abdication crisis in full, the strain of the coming war and Chamberlain's policy of appeasing Hitler. Almost every leading personality and issue of the day is discussed. The personal side is also included: his social life included frequent visits at Lady Astor's Cliveden, and he knew Bernard Shaw, Sidney and Beatrice Webb, Noel Coward, Diana Cooper and Lord Halifax. He was a frequent guest of the society hostesses Sybil Colefax, Lady Londonderry, and Lady Cunard. His abilities as witness and observer make the diaries a rich source of information for scholars and political historians.
