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

nationalism and sense of empire. This was done in1950 , in the
Sinhalese capital of Colombo, known as the Colombo Plan. The
Conservatives had very little disagreement with the strategies of
their predecessors, as the agreement signed in Colombo in 1950 had
been known as the Development Act of 1940 formulated by themselves,
implying that ‘Britain was in Africa and Asia for the Africans’ and
Asians’ good and that her aim was to “develop” them to a stage where
they could fend for themselves.’ 13 The
policy of giving aid to the developing countries would also cancel
the admission of the error of past imperial policy.

Among both the imperialists
and the anti-imperialists the colonial
development policy was uncontroversial, as it contained assistance
to the developing countries and at the same time the economic
interests of Britain were defended. The harmonisation of Labour’s
socialist, anti- colonial doctrine with its underlying British
nationalism and sense of Empire, the bi-partisan policy between the
Conservatives and the Labour Party, and the determination to
maintain Britain’s world role was positively Churchilian.

The Labour Government of
1945-51, had nationalised more industries
than any previous administration in the United Kingdom’s history,
such as the whole of the coal mining industry, which, similar to
Iranian oil, was then the country’s main source of energy; but, the
Labour Government’s Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, believed as a
socialist that British companies in the Middle East should be
responsible for the economic and social welfare of the natives.

One difficulty, which the
AIOC now explained to the Iranians, was
that the Venezuelan concession was a subsidiary company set up to
work that particular concession, whereas AIOC was a world-wide
company with no separate subsidiary for its Iranian operations. It
was, the negotiators pointed out, illogical that the Company should
pay to Iran 50% of its profits earned, for instance, from