Chapter 84 Yes, Prime Minister!

Edward Bridges, who had worked in Whitehall for many years, had become immune to walking Prime Ministers; natural talents simply didn’t exist; it was wrong for Prime Minister Chamberlain to have raised Germany; was it right for Prime Minister Churchill to sell his blood and resist?

“Sir Edward, even for reasons of correctness, we can only endorse Prime Minister Churchill’s ideas.” Alexander Cadogan let out a bitter smile, he recognized in his heart that Edward Bridges’ idea was correct, but he could not say it out loud.

“Yes, this is the limitation of our affairs officers, we are only executing, even if we are against it, we can’t openly oppose it.” Edward Bridges said helplessly, “It’s not that I haven’t reminded the Prime Minister that the current situation in the British Empire is really bad, but as you know, the Prime Minister is a stubborn man.”

If it wasn’t for Churchill’s stubbornness, it probably wouldn’t have been possible to get the British citizens to unite and resist to the end during the time of war. But it wouldn’t do to remain diehard to the end, and in Edward Bridges’ eyes, Churchill was a man who didn’t know how to change.

Cetzlienhof Palace, has been designated as the palace where the Potsdam Conference was held, although the entire building has one hundred and seventy-six rooms, but from the outside, it is almost impossible to see, indeed, like a country house,.

After entering the big arch of the Cecilian Hof Palace, the first thing to see is the ground green, in the middle of a large circle outside the white ring pentagram-shaped grass, the right roof has five red brick chimneys especially conspicuous, looks huge and heavy, is the architectural symbol of the Cecilian Hof Palace. The main building, with its triangular roof wall, is the one that was designated as the meeting place in Potsdam.

It may seem a bit modest, but under Frederick the Great, it was as important as Berlin, with its summer residence, offices and imperial quarters. The status is similar to the French Versailles or Fontainebleau.

The size of the palace and the British, American and Soviet leaders are not quite right, but there is no way, now the city of Berlin downtown by the Soviet Red Army heavy artillery plowed the ground, there are ruins everywhere, used for military parades okay, but really can not find a complete palace to let the three leaders of the three countries to talk quietly.

At noon on June 26th, a plane with a British logo landed on the runway at Berlin Airport, with Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Robert Anthony Aiden, the current British Foreign Secretary, joining forces.

Edward Bridges, who had been quite vocal about Churchill himself a few days ago, was among the group below, wearing his trademark bulldog expression, Churchill, whose turn as a gangster may have made a big difference, stepped down as Prime Minister of the British Empire, and caught a glimpse of Cabinet Secretary Edward Bridges at the front of the crowd.

“Sir Edward, is everything ready?” Churchill snapped with a deliberate show of strength.

“Yes, Prime Minister!” Edward Bridges, a far cry from his previous time with the Foreign Office secretary, wore a gentle smile as he described the current situation in Berlin and the preparations that had been made over many days.

“Then we will have a real negotiation with the opponents of the British Empire.” Churchill recounted his grandiose blueprints and left the airport with Edward Bridges and Foreign Secretary Robert Anthony Aydin, along with him.

Alan Wilson, an unassuming player among the team of diplomats in charge of the Potsdam Conference, also followed the crowd, though his attention was focused more on Foreign Secretary Robert Anthony Aiden than on the classic image of Churchill, and, unsurprisingly, he himself would be meeting with the Conservative Party’s number two a lot during the conference next.

“Is he the party that was humiliated by the U.S.S.R. in the middle of the Suez Canal War?” Alan Wilson recited in his mind.

The Suez Canal War, a pivotal event in the handover of the baton of power, saw Britain and France form a coalition force and join with Israel to take on Egypt, the leader of the Arab nations, only to be forced to give in in the end, and henceforth unworthy of being compared to the United States and the Soviet Union in the eyes of the world.

It was after the Suez Canal War that Britain, step by step, let the colonies become independent, eventually retreating completely to the British Isles and becoming a heel of the United States.

Because Berlin was no longer as prosperous as it had been before, in order to avoid delaying the good mood of the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary, the Cabinet Secretary, Edward Bridges, arranged for a motorcade that did not pass through the city center of Berlin, and took a detour to reach Potsdam.

Entering the Zetzlienhof Palace, Edward Bridges told Churchill about the current news, “The Soviet side has telegraphed that the Soviet leader, Stalin himself, as well as Molotov, have departed, and that the Soviets are coming through the land route.”

“As for the United States, U.S. President Harry Truman will be expected to arrive tomorrow, and current news is that the Secretary of State should not be accompanying him! It seems as though there have been frequent movements in terms of personnel in the U.S. government lately.”

“Truman arrives tomorrow, that’s good, before Stalin arrives, I’m going to communicate with our ally first, so that it may be easier when facing the Soviets together.” Churchill nodded that it was a good start.

“This is Alan, he’ll be shadowing the Foreign Secretary during the conference.” Edward Bridges waved his hand for Alan Wilson to come over, and rushed to introduce Foreign Secretary Robert Anthony Aiden, “Alan has experience of working overseas, studied at the Oriental Institute, and knows the customs of the Far East and India as well as the Middle East, and also has some knowledge of the Soviet Union, he is a rare young talent.”

Robert Aiden said with a slight forehead, “A diplomat working overseas, that’s quite similar to Alexander.”

Alexander Cadogan, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, used to be the ambassador to China, and Robert Aydin was still very clear about the resumes of the Permanent Secretaries of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“These are the diplomats who worked on the negotiations during the conference.” Edward Bridges facetiously introduced the others.

“Together we defend the interests of the British Empire.” Churchill held his head high and spoke with a hint of toughness on his face.

“Yes, Prime Minister!” The diplomats conducting the Potsdam Conference opened their mouths to assure Churchill.

On June 27, U.S. President Harry S. Truman’s plane arrived in Berlin. Compared to his famous predecessor, President Roosevelt, this was Truman’s first trip abroad to attend an important international conference, and his opponents were also the Soviet Union’s Stalin and Britain’s Churchill, so it’s a lie to say that he wasn’t nervous.

But Truman’s nervousness was immediately dispelled by Churchill’s warm welcome to Potsdam. Truman nodded his head in agreement with Churchill’s words about the special relationship between Britain and the United States, but did not give a positive response.