The historian John Terraine , writing in 1993 , said : `` At this distance of time the verdict upon Lord Robert 's Manchester speech must be that , in speaking out clearly on the probability of war , he was doing a patriotic service comparable to Churchill 's during the Thirties '' .
Much later , a historian said : `` At this distance of time the verdict upon Lord Robert 's Manchester speech must be that , in speaking out clearly on the probability of war , he was doing a patriotic service comparable to Churchill 's during the Thirties '' .