one of the most difficult questions.........

 The nature of appeasement—what it was, how to implement it, when to stop it—became the key issue of British politics for most of the 1930s.

     It is important to remember that a narrow but strong strain of sympathy for fascism, and even for Hitler, ran through part of the English aristocracy.  Most prominent of those seen friendly to Germany was Lord Londonberry, a relative of Churchill's who served in the Cabinet in the early 1930s and then briefly was leader of the House of Lords.  Orwell once commented that "whether the British ruling class are wicked or merely stupid is one of the most difficult questions of our time, and at certain moments a very important question."  It is possible that he had Lord Londonberry in mind when he wrote this.

-Thomas E. Ricks:  Churchill & Orwell: The Fight For Freedom