ABSTRACT
Dilly-dally encapsulated both a professional and a personal judgement. 'Dilly-dally' was Churchill's nickname for Dill. Broadly, Marder argued that Pound 'feared neither God, man nor Winston Churchill'; Roskill that 'Churchill had a ready, indeed too ready, mouthpiece in the compliant Pound'. Pliant or not, Pound certainly had his difficulties with Churchill; but beyond dispute is that he was congenial to the Prime Minister — professionally and personally. In one of the many elisions in his memoirs, Churchill's version ran: 'Sir John Dill must have been himself conscious of the consensus of opinion against him on this aspect, and having struck his note of warning he let the matter drop'. Dill found himself doing the quintessential ambassadorial work of attempting to prevent Churchill 'doing stupid things', whilst simultaneously attempting to persuade Marshall that he was, in fact, 'doing clever things'. Perhaps should not be allowed to have the last word.
