ABSTRACT
A new Hungarian government was formed by Count Pál Teleki on 16 February 1939. Within conservative, pro-British circles in Budapest and within the Foreign Office the appointment was attended by much the same expectations as had been the case with Imrédy almost a year earlier. Count István Bethlen, the grand old man of Hungarian politics, thought highly of Teleki ‘for his wisdom, his culture, his wide intellectual horizon and his conscientiousness’, but ‘he did not have a particularly favourable opinion of him as a politician, looking on his scholarly idealism and infantile romanticism as unfortunate’.93 The British press also wrote about Teleki in similarly flattering terms. Gascoigne, the British chargé d’affaires in Budapest, thought it important enough to expatiate on in his report to London:
Although Count Teleki only assumed office ten days ago, he has already shown his determination to abide by constitutional methods of government…It is worth recording, I think, that while Signor Mussolini and President Moscicki replied immediately, Herr Hitler’s answer was not forthcoming until 25th February…The information which is available to me here is that the present leaders of Germany do not trust him, and from what I have been able to learn so far the German press have been somewhat lukewarm. That Count Teleki may not be particularly acceptable to the Third Reich may render the situation difficult for him in the future.94
