Which British Prime Minister returned from Munich in 1938 declaring he had secured 'peace for our time'?

The British Prime Minister who returned from Munich in 1938 declaring that he had secured “peace for our time” was Neville Chamberlain. He made the remark on September 30, 1938, after signing the Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Édouard Daladier.

The agreement allowed Nazi Germany to annex the Sudetenland, a German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia, without Czechoslovakia participating in the negotiations. Chamberlain presented the settlement as a way to prevent an immediate European war, reflecting Britain’s policy of appeasement and the public’s deep fear of another conflict.

The statement soon became famous for its tragic irony. Germany occupied the rest of the Czech lands in March 1939, violating the spirit of the agreement, and invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later, beginning the European phase of the Second World War.

The exact quotation is often misremembered as “peace in our time.” Chamberlain actually said “peace for our time,” echoing an older expression associated with Benjamin Disraeli.