 Tree was among a small group who saw the rising Nazi party in Germany as a threat to Britain, and using his home as its base he became friends with the group's leader, Winston Churchill.Churchill and his wife Clementine dined at Ditchley on numerous occasions from 1937.In February 1938, after Anthony Eden resigned as foreign secretary from Neville Chamberlain over the conduct of foreign policy, Tree himself became a follower of Eden, known then as the ""Glamour boys,"" a pejorative term used by the Conservative Party whips' office, headed by David Margesson.