I’ve just finished reading Bruce Lockhart’s autobiography.

It’s a moderately entertaining read, but it is remarkable for what it doesn’t say. As a witness to great events as the unofficial British representative in Moscow during 1918 he was uniquely placed to report on the machinations around the conclusion of the treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the reaction to the murder of the tsar and his family, and the allied intervention.

And yet there is almost nothing.

Instead a self portrait of a slightly bumptious individual emerges, eager to justify his importance by saying who he met rather than what he discussed.

One imagines that his official reports back to London had rather more detail. Lockhart obviously felt himself bound by official secrecy when he wrote his autobiography.

What is interesting is the description of the first days of the Bolshevik government and its initial incoherent and chaotic nature, and his conclusion that compared to everyone else, it was the Bolshevik government that was most likely to win out, as they had at least half a plan, compared to the SR or any of the ‘white’ opposition groups – something at variance with the opinions of his lords and masters in London….