Butler later alleged in a letter to "The Times" that not to have served might have led to a Labour government (this suggestion was later dismissed as absurd by Wilson himself). Butler later described Home as an "amiable enough creature". He was motivated by his knowledge of Robert Peel and the split over the Corn Laws, later telling Elizabeth Longford that this was "the supremely unforgettable political lesson of history.… I could never do the same thing in the twentieth century, under any circumstances whatever".