Leadership Quote by John Amery

A polite throat-clear that doubles as a moral alibi. Amery opens by acknowledging the obvious dissonance: an English voice on German radio in wartime is not just unusual, it is a confession. By staging the audience's suspicion ("Listeners will wonder..."), he tries to seize control of it, reframing what could sound like treason as a matter of sober necessity.

The second sentence is the real maneuver. "You can imagine" invites the listener into a shared, almost cozy rationality, as if the act is an unfortunate but reasonable choice. And the line about hoping "someone better qualified than me" would come forward is classic pre-emptive self-exoneration: he presents himself not as an eager collaborator but as a reluctant stand-in, drafted by circumstance. It's the rhetoric of the last responsible adult in the room, deployed to sanitize a decision that, in 1940s Britain, carried enormous stigma and danger.

Context sharpens the cynicism. Broadcasting from Nazi Germany, Amery was part of a propaganda effort aimed at undermining British resolve and recruiting support for anti-communist, pro-fascist causes. The humility is tactical. It lowers his profile, softens the listener's anger, and subtly suggests there exists a pool of "better qualified" Britons who share his outlook but have not yet stepped forward. That implication is the hook: if others agree, the unthinkable becomes merely controversial. In a few careful clauses, he tries to turn betrayal into reluctant public service.