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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Douglas-Home. Alec F. Secretary of State for Foreign and
Commonwealth
Affairs 1960-63 (Prime Minister, 1963-64),

Soon
after Oxford, Douglas-Home was a Conservative member of
Parliament and PP to Neville Chamberlain. In 1955-60
he was Secretary of State
for Commonwealth Relations and from 1957 onwards he was Leader of the
House of
Lords too. When Alec Douglas-Home was appointed Foreign Secretary
in the Summer of 1960, there was general
ignorance in even the well informed
Press about his capacities, yet he had already been Leader of the House
of Lords
for three years.

In the
offices that Douglas-Home held, whether as Foreign Secretary or
finally the Premiership for one year, he was
always known to be a true patriot,
shrewd, tenacious and anti-communist. Moreover, he is a devout Christian.
Out
of many Prime Ministers who all have been recognised Christians – none has
spoken out so clearly and
unequivocally about his Christian beliefs as Douglas-
Home. He was at all times a tough combatant where
causes were concerned. Alec
Douglas-Home was always suspicious of, and hostile towards, the
Soviet
Commission’s nature. His views were shared by Macmillan and many other
Conservatives after
the War. Furthermore like Churchill and Macmillan he held
the view that British freedom of action, security
and interests could be
safeguarded by a close relation with the United States in the Post-World War
Two
era. He believed that after a certain point British power’s weakness would tend to
feed on
itself without a close alliance with the Americans. Therefore, in view of
his belief that, as Communists mean
what they say against Capitalism, so they
will seek to expand their Communism to overthrow the Capitalist
system, he
accepted that Britain should be covered by the American nuclear umbrella.
Douglas-Home also,
like Macmillan, favoured the idea of bringing the Asian and
African colonies to independence and
incorporating them into the
Commonwealth. This was in fact the conclusion that he had reached even
before

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