Another theory states that Naosuke's reasons for promoting the opening of Japan and signing the treaty leaned more toward temporary political strategy against such powerful lords as those in Mito and Satsuma, in fact, Naosuke was a consistent exclusionist and insisted that after the Edo bakufu restored its political power, the bakufu and the shinpan (Tokugawa's relatives) and fudai daimyo should work together to expel the foreigners in the country.
直弼が開国を唱えたり条約に調印したのは水戸や薩摩などの有力諸侯による幕政への介入に対抗するための一時の方策であり、直弼自身は江戸幕府が国政の実権を回復した後に幕府とこれを支える親藩・譜代大名が主体となって攘夷を行うべきであるとする一貫した攘夷論者であったとする見方もある。