Leo Amery was a Conservative Member of the British Parliament on Sept. 2, 1939. He’d fought in the Great War and served as First Lord of the Admiralty. Tory Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, in his remarks to the House of Commons that day, appeared to backtrack on Britain’s commitment to go to war if Hitler invaded Poland. An opposition politician rose and began by saying he would speak for the anti-Nazi Labour Party. Amery called over his own party leader’s shoulder and shouted that his party opponent should instead “Speak for England!” Amery was quite right: Britain would have been permanently disgraced if it backtracked on its promise.
We need more of Amery’s kind of patriotism among today’s House and Senate members, especially Republicans, and less grasping self-advancement.
