British neutrality would not make every agreement worthless because the Entente Cordiale was deliberately framed without a war guarantee. The deeper restraint was France's alliance with Russia, still viewed in London as a potential rival, particularly around India and Central Asia. British policy appears to have been moving away from renewing its separate understanding with Russia by 1913. British alignment was therefore a conditional balance-of-power choice, not membership in a permanent anti-German bloc.
Notable Point · 1:52:03-1:53:10
Russian commitments limit Britain's French alignment
Britain's reluctance to call the Entente an alliance reflects concern that France's binding Russian treaty could pull British policy toward an unwanted imperial conflict.