Foreign Affairs

• • Pro-American
  • Ongoing cold war: Britain wanted to make sure that the US stayed committed to protecting Europe
  • Soviet threat continued by the invasion of Czechoslovakia 


  Wilson's stance on the US
• • Between January and August 1968, the new leader of Czechoslovakia, Alexander Dubcek, had introduced new reforms that increased freedom of speech and started to decentralise the economy. So in response to this, in 1968, the Soviet Union started military action to combat the anti-communist activity. 


  Czechoslovakia
• • Began in 1955, split into north (communist) and south (non-communist).
  • US government supported the north against the Viet Cong rebels in the south.
  • Support escalated in 1964 which ended up in the US troops retreating in 1975 and the Viet Cong taking control. 


  Vietnam War
• • Lyndon Johnson wanted to gain support and approval from US allies
  • Australia sent troops to Vietnam and Johnson wanted Britain to do the same.
  • Wilson didn't really want to do this but still wanted to keep a good relationship with Johnson as it became really unpopular in Britain. 


  Why did America get involved in the Vietnam war
• • Unpopular in Britain, especially with the left so he didn't have the full support of his party either
  • Britain couldn't really afford this financially due to the military involvement it required
  • BUT Wilson needed to keep the Americans on side as they kept the sterling of the pound up meaning Wilson would avoid devaluation, so he couldn't totally ignore their demands 


  Why did Britain not get involved in the Vietnam war
• It wasn't a great commitment, didn't really want to continue Britain's application. in 1962, Gaitskell fought against the first application and said at a Labour Party conference that 'it would be the end of a thousand years of history' as he feared that the EEC was the first step to a federal political union. 


  Labour party's commitment to the EEC
• Foot, Castle and trade unions opposed it and were quite hostile as they viewed it as a capitalist club and that it would prevent Britain from following their own social policies. 


  How did the left of the party oppose joining the EEC
• Jenkins and Brown believed that it would be beneficial if Britain did join the EEC.

  What did Europhiles believe about the EEC
• • He didn't really have a clear view on this
  • On the one hand he wanted to keep his Atlantic Alliance and ties with the Commonwealth but he could see the economic benefits of joining the EEC.
  • But he knew that the Labour party needed to be united over this decision.

  Wilson's stance on the EEC
• The Labour cabinet agree to apply to join the EEC again due to the economic state of Britain. There wasn't that much opposition from the left of the party as there wasn't a high chance of the second application being accepted anyway.

  October 1966
• • Accusations of Britain's being 'half-hearted' again due to the doubts between Labour and the refusal of Britain in June 1967, Paris, to give up the 'special relationship' by De Gaulle
  • Wilson and Brown thought the meeting in January 1967 went well as they even got a tour of the 5 EEC countries but in November De Gaulle used his veto once again.
  • Why was Britain's second application rejected again
• • Britain had to let go of some of their military commitments due to their economic situation so Healey started a process of spending cuts to bring the defence budget to £2 billion by 1970.
  • Defence white paper 1967: timetable for troop withdrawals from Aden, Middle East, Malaysia and Singapore. 


  Healey's military spending cuts
• How did the nuclear deterrent budget stay intact

  Even though some argued that Wilson didn't go far and fast enough with decolonisation, he still wanted Britain to play a key role in the world so having nuclear arms meant that Britain could do that.
• Wilson announced that Britain would continue to invest in US Polaris to upgrade the system 


  1967 nuclear arms
• • Decolonisation process accelerated due to massive spending cuts imposed by Jenkins and troops were being withdrawn from countries like Aden by 1971
  • Projects like the TSR2 were also abandoned 


  1967 devaluation crisis
• He condemned the violence as the work of the people who simply did not understand international relations or Britain's financial position 


  What was Wilson's response to the riots over the Vietnam war involvement
• He said that if Britain wanted to keep its hospitals, schools and welfare schemes, it could not afford to antagonise the country which, paid Britain's bills. 


  Why did Wilson not oppose the Americans over Vietnam?
• • This decision was supported by the left
  • USA strongly opposed this because they needed a greater commitment from Britain of the defence of the world's strategic areas to protect them against the communist states. 


  The end of Britain's role in the 'east of Suez' 1967-71
• • cost of maintaining bases was difficult to justify in a time of economic instability
  • military engagements in Kenya and others had drained the military resources of Britain.
  • Suez: undermined Britain's role of being the 'world police'
  • nuclear weapons: Britain could still maintain a position of world power to some extent 


  Why did Wilson want to withdraw from the 'east of suez'