Churchill’s Peacetime Ministry, 1951–55

232 Pages·1997·22.709 MB·English

by  Henry Pelling (auth.)

CHURCHILL'S PEACETIME MINISTRY, 1951-55
Also by Henry Pelling
WINSTON CHURCHILL
THE LABOUR GOVERNMENTS, 1945-51
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE LABOUR PARTY
A HISTORY OF BRITISH TRADE UNIONISM
BRITAIN AND THE MARSHALL PLAN
BRITAIN AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR
THE ORIGINS OF THE LABOUR PARTY
THE CHALLENGE OF SOCIALISM
THE BRITISH COMMUNIST PARTY
AMERICA AND THE BRITISH LEFT
AMERICAN LABOR
LABOUR AND POLITICS, 1900-1906 (with Frank Bealey)
THE SOCIAL GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH ELECTIONS, 1895-1910
POPULAR POLITICS AND SOCIETY IN LATE VICTORIAN BRITAIN
Churchill's Peacetime
Ministry. . 1951-55
Henry Pelling
Fellow of StJohn's College
University of Cambridge
First published in Great Britain 1997 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-333-67709-4 ISBN 978-1-349-25283-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-25283-1
First published in the United States of America 1997 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue,
New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-16271-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pelling, Henry.
Churchill's peacetime ministry, I9 5 I- 55 I Henry Pelling.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-16271-9(cloth)
I. Great Britain-Politics and govemment-1945-1964.
2. Churchill, Winston, Sir, 1874-1965. I. Title.
DA592.P45 1996
941.085'5-dc20 96-2994
CIP
@ Henry Pelling 1997
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1997
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of
this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or
transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with
the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act I 988,
or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court
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Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this
publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil
claims for damages.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99
Contents
List of Plates vii
Preface ix
I The Labour Interlude I
2 Cabinet Making I2
3 Robot and After 3I
4 Korea and Colonial Problems 45
5 The European Defence Community 63
6 Privatisation 73
7 The Struggle Against Illness 89
8 Bermuda and Berlin 106
9 The H-Bomb and Eden's Diplomacy I20
IO Setting the People Free I38
11 The Last Session 155
12 Conclusion 177
Appendix: Members of the Government 184
Abbreviations in the Notes 188
Notes I89
Bibliography 206
Index 209
v
List of Plates
1. Conservative Central Office press conference, October
1951 (Camera Press)
2. 'Hot Seat' cartoon by David Low, Daily Herald, 30 October
1951 (©David Low/Solo Syndication)
3. Churchill and General Eisenhower in Paris, December
1951 (Churchill archive)
4. Eden's wedding, August 1952 (Churchill archive)
5. Oliver Lyttelton (Camera Press)
6. Lord Salisbury (portrait by Walter Bird, Camera Press)
7. Lord Cherwell (Hulton Deutsch)
8. Harold Macmillan (Fox Photos)
9. Churchill in Coronation procession, 2June 1953
(Churchill archive)
10. Cabinet Ministers at Blackpool, October 1954
(Churchill archive)
11. Churchill's eightieth birthday; cartoon by Vicky, Daily
Mirror, 30 November 1954 (©Vicky/Solo Syndication)
vii
Preface
This book covers the three-and-a-half years of Winston
Churchill's second premiership, 1951-55. It thus deals with
the same period as the notable and fuller study by Dr Anthony
Seldon, Churchill's Indian Summer (1981). Its claim to novelty
lies in its use of the Cabinet Minutes and Papers now available
at the Public Record Office at Kew, of the Prime Minister's
papers at the same location, and of the private papers of more
Cabinet Ministers, especially those of Anthony Eden now at
Birmingham University Library.
I am particularly grateful to Lady Avon for allowing me
access to the Eden Papers before they were formally declared
open, and to Dr Benedicz, the Birmingham University
Archivist. Mr Graham Stewart of my own college helped me
with research assistance in the final stages. Mrs Jane Rogers
patiently undertook the retyping of the final version.
Mr Damien Browne, also of StJohn's College, kindly read the
proofs. Any errors that remain are my own responsibility.
Stjohn's College H.M.P.
Cambridge
ix
1 The Labour Interlude
When Churchill and the Conservative Party were defeated in
the 1945 General Election, the verdict of the electors was so
decisive that the Prime Minister concluded that he 'did not
wish to remain even for an hour responsible for their affairs' .1
He therefore resigned office on the evening of the declaration
of the results, 26 July, and advised the King to send for
Clement Attlee, the Labour leader. But those Conservatives
who were elected to Parliament realised that had it not been
for Churchill's leadership their defeat would have been even
more severe. When the Commons reassembled on 1 August,
therefore, they greeted him by singing 'For He's a Jolly Good
Fellow'. And Churchill himself, although already over seventy
years old, signified his willingness to continue as party leader
by buying a house in Kensington, 28 Hyde Park Gate, to sup
plement his country residence at Chartwell, near Westerham
in Kent.
As the party was out of office, however, Churchill saw no
need for regular attendance at the House of Commons. He
sympathised with many of the early measures of the
Government, including the state control of the Bank of
England, and Ernest Bevin's blunt confrontation of the Soviet
leaders at Foreign Ministers' meetings. He formed a Shadow
Cabinet of some fifteen members, but they were not allotted
specific responsibilities in the fashion which has since become
customary. The Shadow Cabinet met weekly on Wednesdays
at 6 p.m. when the House was sitting. It included three peers
Lord Woolton, the wealthy man of commerce who had served
as Minister of Food during the war, and had only joined the
Conservative Party after the 1945 election; Lord Cranbourne,
who used his courtesy title as eldest son of the Marquess of
Salisbury, but who had joined the Lords in 1941 as Lord Cecil
ofEssendon; and Churchill's scientific adviser, Lord Cherwell,
who held the chair of Experimental Philosophy (Physics) at
Oxford. The Commons members were led by Anthony Eden,
the wartime Foreign Secretary, whom Churchill regarded as
his Deputy; the 'two Olivers'-Oliver Stanley, a younger son of
the Earl of Derby, who had been Colonial Secretary for three
1
2 Churchill's Peacetime Ministry, 1951-55
years, and Oliver Lyttelton, another businessman who had
been the wartime Minister of Production. Others on the Front
Bench included R.A. Butler, the wartime Minister of
Education; Harold Macmillan, who had been Minister of State
in the Mediterranean; Harry Crookshank, who had held only
minor office but was respected as a debater; Sir David Maxwell
Fyfe, a former Attorney-General; and James Stuart, who had
been Government Chief Whip for four years and now became
Opposition Chief Whip. Members of the Shadow Cabinet were
also invited by Churchill to join him at a fortnightly lunch at
the Savoy Hotel when he was in London. 3
At first the Opposition had difficulty in getting into its
stride. The backbenchers wanted a more vigorous attack on
Labour domestic policy than its leaders seemed capable of
mounting, and this concern manifested itself at a meeting
of the 1922 Committee (the Conservative backbenchers) on
19 November 1945, when Churchill had to promise that either
he or Eden would be present for major debates.4 Shortly after
wards the Opposition tabled a censure motion on the
Government, and on 28 November Churchill delivered a vig
orous speech to the Central Council of the Conservative Party
deploring the fact that 'the Socialists' were encouraging the
'gloomy State vultures of nationalisation' to 'hover above our
basic industries.'
Nevertheless, Churchill had no intention of spending all his
time at Westminster. Early in the New Year (1946) he went off
on a prolonged visit to the United States- first to have a rest
in the sun in Florida, and then, early in March, to address an
audience at Fulton, Missouri, on international affairs. His
speech, introduced by President Truman, caused a sensation
because of his blunt attack on Soviet policy in Eastern Europe:
'From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron
curtain has descended across the Continent. .. This is certainly
not the liberated Europe we fought to build up. Nor is it one
that contains the essentials of permanent peace.' He then
called for the unity of the 'Western Democracies' and espe
cially 'the whole strength of the English-speaking world and
all its connections. '5 The reactions to the speech were at first
critical, both in the United States and in Britain, but after a
few months its general theme won more and more approval,
and it was accepted as prophetic.