Chamberlain's understanding of the war was accepted by Chat field — the only professional strategist — and by Halifax and Hankey, whom he regarded as the most important members of the Cabinet. Chatfield expected the war to be a long one (unless it was shortened by political collapse in Germany) ; his ultimate weapons were air power, naval blockade and economic strangulation. Neither he nor Halifax was an optimist, and Hankey was positively pessimistic (until Hitler failed to attack London). All three assumed that the essence of prudence was Fabian.

Hankey's view before joining the War Cabinet in September was not much different from the views he had expressed before retiring fourteen months before. Just as Eden's departure had given him a ‘strange sense of relief’, so Munich had ‘laid the foundations of a lasting peace’. But the commitment of September 18 had renewed the danger of a three-cornered war.