The Battle of Britain Five Months That Changed History, May—October 1940 by James Holland (z-lib.org).epub

By now, the argument between Churchill and Halifax was becoming
more heated. The Prime Minister pointed out that Britain was in a different
position to France. First, Britain still had, in her navy and air force, powers
of resistance, and, second, France was likely to be offered reasonable terms,
but Britain was not. ‘If France could not defend herself,’ he said, ‘it is better
that she should get out of the war rather than drag us into a settlement
which involved intolerable terms.’ He was also wary of going cap in hand
to Mussolini with the French, as Reynaud had suggested, before Britain had
been involved in any serious fighting.
Halifax disagreed that Hitler would necessarily ask for outrageous
terms. ‘We might say to Signor Mussolini that if there was any suggestion
of terms which affected our independence,’ he suggested, ‘we should not
look at them for a moment.’ But he could see no harm in trying an
approach.
Chamberlain, Attlee and Greenwood said little during this discussion.
Churchill now recognized that he needed to tread very carefully. If the