In his youth, Westman had been involved in the Nationalist Activism movement, which provided him both with relevant contacts and a good understanding for contemporary thinking in independent Finland.

But he was also critical of its political development, from the bloody aftermath of the Civil War and forth, and particularly suspicious against the fennoman school of thoughts that dominated outside of the Finland-Swedish circles, and what he perceived as their strong anti-Nordic undercurrent.

His outspoken opposition against the host country's increasing cooperation with Nazi Germany, in the run up to and during the Continuation War, led to an unfortunate failure of his mission to Helsinki.

The realpolitik policies of Foreign Minister Günther were not as popular in the left-leaning majority of the Cabinet now, when a clash between Nazism and Communism was on the agenda, as it had been during the zenith of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.

What he said in Helsinki, he was convinced, was totally in accordance with the views of influential Social Democrats as Östen Undén and Ernst Wigforss, and also with the generally neutralist Liberals and Agrarians.