Not because it was any good, no.
It was good in the sense that it was useful for the 'policing' duties of the British Empire in the late 1930s, which - as one might imagine - featured mostly careening around the far-flung colonies and blasting away at damnedbloodynatives that didn't know how good they had it under British rule, whatwhat. What this meant was largely that by the time it faced real opposition - the light tanks of other nations, their armoured cars, or even infantry with sufficient determination and foul language on their side - it was woefully outmatched from the outset.
The majority of tanks in service with the British Expeditionary Force in 1940 during the Battle of France were - you might well guess - these little Mk VIs, and we all know how that went. But it's not fair to say that the fall of France was entirely down to the paltry armament and paper-thin armour of these doughty little lunchboxes. They were mechanically reliable, but the sight of the suspension and the stubby length of the thing might give one pause. Yes, they were absolutely insane to ride in on anything but flat ground at a medium pace. At any turn of speed whatsoever they bounced and rattled and pitched about maniacally, throwing the crew about inside like crash test dummies.
It was so utterly outclassed by anything even remotely approaching a modern design that when they were deployed in the North Africa campaign, even Italian tanks, modestly armed by comparison to most Allied vehicles of the time, absolutely mauled the 7th Armoured Division. It was, make no bones about it, a piece of shit that was barely adequate in an armoured reconnaisance role and utterly pointless except when one was armed with incredible desperation and fuck all else.
But look at the damn thing. Looney Tunes-ass fuckin' cartoon toy box tank, how can you not love it?!
