Letter: Peace in our time

Nicholas Lezard accuses me (ABC, 30 January) of speculating that it would have been better to negotiate a peace with the Nazis during the war. In my biography of the then foreign secretary Lord Halifax, The Holy Fox, in my book Hitler and Churchill: Secrets of Leadership, in public debates against revisionist historians, in at least two dozen articles and well over 50 speeches over the past decade and a half, I have said that it would have been disastrous even to have investigated the likely peace terms. Mr Lezard might well find me "an irritant" but he needs to find a different reason than the one that he gives.

Andrew Roberts

London SW3