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 he was
not convinced that co-operation with America should be the over-riding
priority of British policy. Thus his
principle led him to proceed independently
without consultation with the Americans, and launched a military
attack together
with Israel and France on Egypt, which even undermined Churchill’s principle of
the
“special relationship”, as Eden was close to Churchill who had worked hard
to bring that concept
about.

In 1940,
when Lord Lothian, the British Ambassador to the US died,
Halifax gave up the Foreign Office to go to
Washington and Eden became once
again the Foreign Secretary. Churchill in fact had virtually designated
his
eventual successor. In June 1942 when Churchill was going to the United States,
in a letter to the
King, George VI, he made a formal advice that in the event of
his death Eden should become the Prime
Minister. Eden was a firm supporter of
the Empire. In his speeches he always put the Empire/Commonwealth
first, and
as far back as the 1930s he was a determined opponent of appeasment, something
that was
compatible to his character and view during the Suez Crisis. He believed
that Britain should not be
restricted by the “special relationship” and British
policy should be financed in the light of
British interests and also get the USA’s
support as much as possible. Ill health, however, when he was
Prime Minister in
1955-57 contributed to the disastrous Suez Crisis.

Lloyd, Selwyn,
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1957-60.

After
finishing his studies at Cambridge University, Lloyd practiced law
successfully on the North-Western Circuit.
In the 1939-45 War, be had a
distinguished record of service, ending up as Deputy Chief of Staff,
Second
Army, with the unusually high rank for a “non-regular” of Brigadier. Later on
Selwyn
Lloyd entered the House of Commons, at the relatively late age of forty.
As a back-bencher, be caught the eye
of of Anthony Eden and also of R. A. Butler,

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