“…After becoming Prime Minister, Chamberlain replaced the pursuit of the various balances with appeasement as the strategic basis of British strategy -what he called 'better relations with the dictators'. 8 In his view the Foreign Office, dominated by Sir Robert Vansittart, the Permanent Under-Secretary since January 1930, had responsibility for ensuring that the balance remained as the basis of British strategy. Vansittart had promoted the Field Force since early 1934, and in a series of high-level discussions that constructed foreign and defence policy thereafter, the Foreign Office view shaped the nature and purpose of British external policies.…”