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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predecessors. As chief opposition spokesman he supported the general line of
Labour policy. His
support was more than just a matter of principle. Indeed, he
was pleased to see Labour pursuing policies
which he felt he could regard as a
continuation and development of his own.

Stanley always retained constant respect and confidence of his
traditionalist colleagues. As did
Harold MacMillan, his close friend, he appealed
to both Labour and the traditional Conservatives, such as
his other close friend,
Winston Churchill. Stanley’s speeches at post-war party conferences
clearly
demonstrated his sincere devotion to the Empire. They also expressed his
liberalism.

“We want an economic unity, an economic exchange between the various
parts of the Empire,
brought about by how it may be, and do not let us exalt
what is only one of the means of attaining our
desire into being the object
itself: and, quite clearly, Imperial Preference, 1f by that you mean
merely
a differential tariff, is by no means the only and often not the most
efficacious way of
serving our Empire trade; and if you are taking the broad
future, Empire Preference merely as a symbol,
as a symbol of an Imperial
economic unity which is now being subjected to external attack, then
I
think all of us stand four-square by the doctrine that we must be allowed to
make, within our own
Commonwealth and Empire, the arrangements
which appear best to us.”25

However, in four successive conferences, Stanley stressed a particular
point. He warned those in the
Conservative Party who still demonstrated
enthusiasm in assuming that the Empire was still waiting for
British leadership,
of the growth of national conciousness in many territories. In the
1949
Conference, he said that it was no longer a case of

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