The British Imperial Establishment, Post Imperial Era, and the ‘Churchillian’ World View, 1945-2016. (Adjustments & Challenges in Contemporary British Diplomatic Strategy)

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As
the Conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli once said:
“governments found most of their
legislation in the pigeon-holes of their
predecessors.”1 This
was precisely the case as regards the decolonisation process
under the Conservatives of 1951-63, and
protecting British power and interests
during the evolution of the Modern Commonwealth. Returning to the
Indian
question and Labour briefly, there was very little dispute between the Labour
Government and
the Conservatives after the war, when Labour proceeded with
the Indian independence and decolonisation
programme. In fact, Lord Halifax,
who was the Foreign Secretary in Churchill’s War Cabinet, had
shared Attlee’s
ideas regarding India’s crises by explaining to the imperial ultras in
the
Conservative Party that “the Labour Party could not be held responsible for the
present
critical situation, and that the crises were the result of old agreements ,
the war and internal Indian
tension.”2 The other prominent Conservative who had
expressed
moderate views while in opposition was R.A.Butler. Lord Halifax’s
views had made a considerable
impression in the House of Lords. Ironically, one
of the opponents of decolonisation in the Conservative
Party, who first bitterly
opposed granting India’s independence, Lord Templewood (Indian minister in
the
1930s, as Samuel Hoare), withdrew his vote of no-confidence and did not refuse
his consent.
Moreover, in 1942, it was Churchill who sent the Labour Chancellor,
Sir Stafford Cripps, to India to lead
a mission to try to prepare a way for further
constitutional advance. In due course, in this chapter, it
will become clear why
Churchill had come to change his mind and was ready to discuss
independence
with the colonies, as long ago as 1942. Even concerning what should be done
about India
after 1ts independence, again the Prime Minister, Clememt Attlee,
and Churchill shared the same view that
India should be persuaded to remain in
the Commonwealth. This was demonstrated in a letter which Attlee
had sent to
the King, who had taken a close interest in the Indian negotiations, and was in
total
agreement with Attlee that ways should be found in which the republican
status of the new state could be
reconciled with Commonwealth membership.

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