Foreign News: Clue

A better clue to Francisco Franco’s political health than the scare bulletins emanating from Spanish émigré groups in Paris, London and Mexico City was a brief announcement from the British Foreign Office: Lord Templewood (Sir Samuel Hoare), Britain’s ambassador to Spain, is going home. Lord Templewood, long hated as an appeaser by Laborites, leftists and liberals, has skated over the thin ice of Anglo-Spanish relations since 1940. “At that time,” said the Foreign Office, “it was expected [his] mission would be of short duration. But in the ensuing years situations arose which made it desirable for him to continue his special mission. However, he now feels the time has come when he can be relieved.”