British Diplomatic Oil Crisis: Contemporary Anglo-Saxon Geopolitical Rivalries in the Persian Gulf: Drawing a Lesson? Or Sir Anthony Eden‘s Delusion of Grandeur.

Morrison,
in even stronger terms. The following extract shows how
strong the Labour Government felt about Britain staying a major
power:

His Majesty’s Government do
not accept the as one of the world
view… that we have ceased to be a Great Power, or contention that
we have ceased to play that role. We regard ourselves as one of the
Powers most vital to the peace of the world and we still have our
historic part to play. The very fact that we have fought so hard for
liberty, and paid such a price, warrants our retaining that
position; and indeed it places a duty upon us to continue to retain
it. 9

Foreign
Secretary Bevin stated firmly and clearly that, ‘for his
part he was “not prepared to sacrifice the British Empire”,’
10 on the grounds that ‘if the British
Empire fell… it would mean the standard of life in our
constituencies would fall rapidly.’
11Additionally, it is worth noting, as
Bernard Porter has put it,

‘development and welfare
was seductive because its effect was to
sanction what was expedient now, while at the same time seeming to
endorse most of what had been done in the past.’
12

Converting his conviction into practice with the successful
establishment of Labour’s colonial doctrine of trusteeship, the
Labour Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin one of the greatest
supporters of British imperial power, managed to harmonise Labour’s
socialist and anti-colonisation policies with British