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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did
not consult the Americans and Britain proceeded independently. In 1955 Eden
bad told the Cabinet:

“Our interests in the Middle East were greater than those of the United
States because our
dependence on Middle East oil, and our experience in
the area was greater than theirs. We should not
therefore allow ourselves
to be restricted over much by reluctance to act without full
American
concurrence and support. We should finance our own policy in the light of
our own interests
in the area and get the Americans to support it to the
extent we could induce them to do
so.”38

Eden’s approach to the Suez crisis was compatible with his view that
Britain could, if necessary,
act on her own, without the assistance of the United
States. The very fact that Britain had been
proposing the concept of a new “special
relationship” to the Americans while at the same time
trying to mislead them
angered Eisenhower. After the Anglo-Franco-Israeli attack was launched
on
Egypt the Americans played a leading role in the United Nations in condemning
Britain’s
aggression and the Americans demanded British withdrawal from
Egyptian soil. The Suez crisis of 1956
reflected a complete conflict of interest
between Britain and America together with personality clashes
between the
British Prime Minister, Anthony Eden, and the American leader, Dwight D.
Eisenhower, and
his Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles. As a result of ill health
Eden, too, resigned his post as the
Prime Minister in 1957 and was succeeded by
Harold MacMillan who had been Eden’s Foreign Secretary
for a while.

By
the time MacMillan took office, due to the Suez crisis the hopes of
creating a U.K/U.S.A. “special
relationship” had diminished. At least, the ability
of Britain to manipulate American policy, an
effort that had begun during and
after the war by both the Conservatives and Labour to maintain Britain
as a great
power, was reduced. Britain viewed the United States as powerful but still
immature in
world affairs, and saw herself as a great nation with superior

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