The front line of Albion's perfidy. Inputs into the making of British policy towards Spain: The racism and snobbery of Norman king

Abstract

Recent publications concerning the Spanish Civil War have shown that British policy towards Spain was governed by a fear of left wing politics, as well as class prejudice and racism towards the Spanish proletariat. This article focuses on the activities and opinions of diplomats stationed in Spain during the conflict, revealing that their reports were decisive in forging the policy of Non-Intervention. Specifically, it examines correspondence between the Barcelona Consulate and the Foreign Office which occurred during the first six months of the war. It uses Norman King, the Vice Consul in Barcelona as a case study, establishing that his reports serve as a pertinent example of Britain's malevolent neutrality

Ideological Foundations of British Non-Intervention in the Spanish Civil War: Foreign Office Perceptions of Political Polarisation in Spain, 1931-1936

“…In this sense, there is a need not to conflate the opinions of some within the British government and Foreign Office before the outbreak of civil war with the opinions prompted by reports of atrocities committed in the republican zone during the first weeks of the conflict. 12 The perceptions of British diplomats in Spain and their colleagues at the Foreign Office before July 1936, rather, provide insight into the ideological foundations of the policy of non-intervention adopted in response to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.…”

Violences et répression dans l’Espagne en guerre (1936-1937) : regard diplomatique, regard orienté ?

“…L'historienne souligne que « les absurdes flagorneries pro-nationalistes de fonctionnaires tels que [les consuls] Formby et Oxley signifiait qu'ils n'avaient aucun désire de décrire la répression se déroulant à Séville et à Vigo ». Si Oxley concède que des « exécutions sommaires ont eu lieu » à Vigo, il précise qu'elles constituaient « le seul moyen de stopper les travailleurs communistes de perpétrer de nouveaux outrages » 73 . Tom Buchanan soutient néanmoins que Formby et Oxley ont progressivement infléchi à partir de novembre 1936 leurs positions sur les violences en zone insurgée, en dénonçant dans un second temps les exécutions de francs-maçons, républicains et libéraux.…”

British Government Maritime Evacuations in the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939

“…The slaughter influenced some UK consuls such as Norman King in Barcelona. In his reports to London he regularly berated the Republican government and blamed it directly for wide-scale murders committed by anarcho-syndicalists working, he claimed, hand in glove with the government 32. Meanwhile, in London, a group of British officials disconcerted by the violence in Republican territory, but less preoccupied by Francoist killings, drew the conclusion that only those in the government zone required evacuation.…”