At first the packed House of Commons was disappointed. Listening M.P.s had to remind themselves that Ernie Bevin was making history. He read his speech from typescript, too rapidly, sometimes gobbling his words. Afterwards, in the lobbies, Laborites agreed that "Ernie was bloody awful" in his delivery. But the history was in what he said, not in how he said it.
He began with Yalta: "The solution arrived at . . . was looked upon by His Majesty's Government at that time as a sensible compromise . . . [but] the Communist process goes ruthlessly on. ....
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