"The nature of international diplomacy and Britain's world role changed immeasurably after the end of the First World War, and this book shows how the various men who headed the Foreign Office during the inter-war years sought to operate in the shifting political and bureaucratic environments that confronted them."

"British Foreign Secretaries in an Uncertain World examines the careers of each of the inter-war foreign secretaries, including Lord Curzon, John Simon and Anthony Eden. Using an extensive range of primary sources both published and unpublished, official and private, Michael Hughes offers a detailed assessment of how the foreign secretaries approached their role and how influential they were in international diplomacy. The book also looks at the foreign secretaries' successes and failures within the British political system, analysing how influential the Foreign Office was under each foreign secretary in determining British foreign policy."--Jacket.