Lord David Owen

Former Foreign Secretary David Owen speaks about the pivotal British War Cabinet meetings of May 1940. The minutes and documents reveal just how close Britain came to seeking a negotiated peace with Nazi Germany.

Cabinet’s Finest Hour is both the story of Churchill’s determination to fight on and a paean to the Cabinet system of government. The Cabinet system, all too often disparaged as messy and cumbersome, worked in Britain’s interests and ensured a democracy on the brink of defeat had the courage to assess the alternatives to fighting on.

The post-war denial of both the existence and legitimacy of the war cabinet debates had far-reaching consequences for Britain’s foreign and defence policy for the rest of the century, starting over the Suez Crisis but reaching its nadir over the Second Iraq War.

Dr David Owen practised as a neurologist before being elected a Labour MP in his home city of Plymouth in 1966. He served as Foreign Secretary under James Callaghan from 1977 until 1979, and later co-founded and went on to lead the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Between 1992-95 Lord Owen served as EU peace negotiator in the former Yugoslavia. He now sits as an Independent Social Democrat in the House of Lords.