A letter to the Daily Telegraph which was published on 16th November 1986.

Messrs Szakaly and Nadasy (Letters, November 9th) are wrong to propagate anew that old canard that Britain’s action at Suez in 1956 gave the Russians carte blanche to crush the Hungarian revolt.  In so far as two international actions can be, these two were entirely separate.  With or without Suez, there was never, nor has there ever been, a chance that the US and Britain would confront the Russians over Hungary, or over other Eastern European States for that matter.  The Russians know this and have known this at least since Churchill-Stalin discussions in October, 1944.

The reasons are that Hungary was conquered by Russians arms in 1944-45, having taken part in the invasion of Russia as an ally of Germany in 1941-43.  Between the wars Hungary was a military dictatorship within the German sphere of influence, while during the First World War she was, as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, of course again an ally of Germany against Russia and Britain.

While there was heartfelt sympathy for Hungary at the time of the abortive revolt in 1956, the fact is, so far as Britain is concerned, that no promises were made to Hungary and none were broken.