6.6.42

The Molotov rumour still persists. He was here to negotiate the treaty, and has gone back, so it is said. No hint of this in any newspaper, however.

There is said to be much disagreement on the staff of the New Statesman over the question of the Second Front. [1] Having squealed for a year that we must open a second front immediately, Kingsley Martin [2] now has cold feet. He says they now say that the army cannot be trusted, the soldiers will shoot their officers in the back etc. – this after endeavouring throughout the war to make the soldiers mistrust their officers. Meanwhile I think now that a second front is definitely projected, at any rate if enough shipping can be scrapped together.

[1] At this time the opening of a second front was almost daily expected. When Dwight D. Eisenhower’s arrival in England was reported in the Daily Express on 26 June 1942, his photograph was headlined: ‘U.S. Second front general is here.’ Although, in response to Stalin’s demand that a Second Front be opened, consideration was given to a cross-Channel landing in August or September 1942, the first new front (not regarded by most people as a Second Front) was not opened until 8 November 1942, and then in North Africa.  

[2] Kingsley Martin (1897-1969) left-wing journalist and editor of The New Statesman (1931-60), caused the Indian Section considerable trouble, from what he said and from his squabbling about fees. He was regarded as unreliable by the BBC for not sticking to censored scripts, and was, in effect, barred by the Home Office and Ministry of Information because of his contribution to ‘Answering You,’ broadcast to North America in December 1941.