colonial policy and administration

• Labour aims 1945-51


  • To guide Colonial Territories to responsible self-government within the Commonwealth in conditions that ensure to the people concerned both a fair standard of living and freedom from oppression
  • Self-government was the ultimate goal, but self-government was considered far distance
  • Premature withdrawal would only result in anarchy, Soviet subversion, dictatorship and the loss of British influence
• Relationship with the Old Dominions

  • Regarded as Britain's most reliable friends, tied to Britain by common interest and ancestral and cultural ties
  • However, they had their own interests and were prepared to assert separated identities
  • ANZUS military pact formed between Australia, NZ and the USA in 1951 which implied that the USA had taken over Britain's responsibilities in the Pacific
• New Commonwealth


  • An association of 'free and equal' independent states which would transcend race, colour and creed (belief)
  • Seen as a way of surrendering costs of formal control whilst maintaining informal ties which would protect Britain's global economic interests and influence
  • It liked to think of the Commonwealth as a family of friendly nations around the world which could lend critical support and mediate over disputes
  • Atlee declared to parliament in 1948 that 'we are not solely a European power, but a member of a great Commonwealth and Empire'
• Problems with New Commonwealth

  • India, Pakistan and Ceylon did not share the enthusiasm of the white Dominions for the great power pretensions of Britain, still less their support of British colonial rule elsewhere
  • Members of the commonwealth enjoyed no natural unity and its members had little in common with each other
  • Britain could not offer enough reward for association in the form of trade, investment and defence
  • Talk of a racial partnership did not appeal to white SA who had implemented policy of apartheid in 1948
  • Given SA's strategic and economic importance (major source of uranium and gold), Attlee's government toned down its criticism of Nationalist policies
• Compromises in the Commonwealth

  1. Before 1948, Dominions had been required to recognise the British Crown as their head of state

  2. In 1947-8, Britain made no effort to bend the rules to allow Eire or Burma to become republics and stay within the Commonwealth

  3. India's determination to be a republic in 1948 was a major concern - it was a potentially vast trading partner and a seemingly vital ally in a continent where communist influence was advancing rapidly

  4. A compromise was finally worked out whereby republican Indian would remain in the Commonwealth, accepting the British monarch as 'Head of the Commonwealth' rather than as head of India
• Sterling Area


  • Britain was struggling economically after WWII, and looked to the USA for an economic partnership
  • However, Britain's post-war economic weakness served to reinforce the Commonwealth solidarity in trade and finance too
  • Almost all the Dominions and several independent countries (e.g Iraq) used the pound sterling as the basis of their currency and banked their overseas earnings in London - the area helped to maintain the value of the pound
  • Britain remained the most important market for most members of the sterling area
  • For many countries, they had to support Britain economically because of the tied currencies - the danger of the collapse of the pound in 1947 threatened the all with bankruptcy
  • In 1947, various measures tied the sterling area members more closely to a common trade policy, obliging them to purchase more of their imports from Britain
  • It became more of a closed economic bloc
  • With ¼ of the world's population and trade, it exceeded its main rival of the dollar area
• Aims for African Colonies

  • Hoped that it would supply them with mineral wealth and a source of men for its armed forces to replace the Indian army
  • In 1950 it was estimated that Africa could provide 400 000 troops for an imperial army
  • Development of colonial economies would boost the purchasing power of colonial consumers thus helping to compensate British industry for markets lost during WW2
• Development


  • Labour politicians had long talked in vague terms of 'developing' the colonies
  • Arthur Creech-Jones, Attlee's CS was determined to aid British colonies as he regarded colonial economic and social development as the crucial precondition for progress to self-government
  • A Colonial Development and Welfare Act 1945 allocated £120m over 10 years to assist the colonies' development - much more substantial amount of money compared to previous acts at a time when Britain had less money and was suffering economically, had large debts from the war and was also intending large social reforms in Britain (NHS
  • A 1948 Act established the Colonial Development Corporation and the Overseas Food Corporation to improve living standards in the colonies
• 'Second Colonial Occupation'


  • Anxious to develop colonial economies to provide Britain with urgently needed raw materials, the government interfered in all areas of economic life and scores of British 'expects' descended on Africa with schemes for agricultural improvement
  • It took a new aggressive approach, sometimes known as 'economic colonialism'
  • Britain did not lack the will to maintain the empire and its role as a global power so the empire took on a new significance for Britain in the post-war world
  • It wanted to create a 'third force' in world politics
  • Government's enthusiasm for change upset many of the local vested interests on whose support British colonial rule depended
• Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme


  • Launched in 1948 as an attempt to reduce the deficit of oils and fats in Britain and around the world
  • Cost Britain £36m and failed, both to provide oil for Britain or employment for Africans
  • It was a spectacular example of economic mismanagement which was far from being isolated
• Labour claims about colonial rule

  • Claimed it had abolished the old type of capitalist imperialism
  • There was an idealist notion which sought genuinely to raise colonial standards of living, and stress was continually placed on the mutual benefits which both Britons and colonial peoples would derive from overseas investment
  • However, far from helping the colonies' economic development, it actually exploited its colonies for all they were worth restricting investment, controlling their trade and the prices of their main commodities and rationing the goods they could purchase from Britain
  • Sometimes it led to giving less rather than more power to indigenous leaders
  • As Britain began to force economic change, local chieftains were cast aside and British colonial officials had to fall back on their monopoly of force
  • Between 1945-51 the colonies were forced to lend Britain more money than Britain actually invested in the colonies
  • Attlee's government allowed the British dependencies to be exploited more than at any time since they were established
• Reforms in West Africa

  • Aware that WWII led to a need to widen representative government and develop timetables for self-rule
  • Tried to convey the idea of working in collaboration with nationalists to prepare colonies for independence
  • System of universal suffrage to elect an assembly was introduced in the Gold Coast after riots in Accra (1948) but British authorities continued to control finance, the police and the civil service
  • Nigeria, aware of developments in the Gold Coast, successfully pressed for more political participation
• Why Gold Coast/ Nigeria were an exception


  • Both were well-populated countries with educated elites capable of taking on governmental responsibility
  • Neither had large numbers of white settlers which complicated decolonisation
  • The Gold Coast was well on the way to complete independence by the time Labour left office
• Rule of Malaya


  • In 1945, the Malayan peninsular consisted of: 9 states, each ruled by a sultan under British protection; 2 British settlements and Singapore
  • Britain had essentially allied itself with the Malayan elite
  • The population was multi-racial, mostly Malays and Chinese in roughly equal numbers
  • Britain wanted to create a stronger more viable political unit so in 1948, it grouped the states and settlements into the Federation of Malaya
• Importance of Malaya


  • Important economically - it produced 1/3 of the world's tin and huge amounts of rubber, the bulk of both products being sold to the USA
  • It was therefore an important source of dollars
  • Its rubber alone earned more hard currency than all Britain's domestic exports to the USA in the 1940s
• Malayan Emergency


  1. Malayan communists, exploiting the Chinese community's disaffection and encouraged by communist success in China itself, stirred up strikes and violence

  2. A state of emergency was declared and thousands of British troops were sent to Malaya

  3. In 1951, more than 1000 civilians and members of th security forces were killed

  4. The conflict dragged on until the late 1950s

  5. The majority of the Malayan population remained pro-British and it resettled hundreds of thousands of Chinese in specially guarded villages and battled for Malayan 'hearts and minds'
• Position in Middle East by late 1940s

  • Despite loss of Palestine, Britain had a dominant presence in the area
  • It was fearful about Soviet ambitions in the Middle East
  • It had the right to keep troops in the Suez Canal zone and shared responsibility with Egypt for the Sudan
  • Held Aden and Cyprus and effectively controlled most of the sheikhdoms along the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula and in the Persian Gulf
  • Had military bases in Iraq and close ties with Jordan, whose army was commanded by a British officer and funded by Britain
• Why Middle East was important

  • Oil and the Suez Canal
  • Bevin (FS) wanted the area to retain in a British sphere of influence and was particularly determined to keep Russian influence out
  • It was central to imperial defence
  • He tried to maintain British hegemony by cooperating with the Arab states in the region
• Defence

  • Britain relied on the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) of 1949 and America's nuclear capacity (despite developing its own nuclear weapons from 1952) for defence
  • The formation of the South East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) in 1954 brought Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, Britain and the USA in the wake of the Korean War, was acknowledgment of the need for an American-led protective alliance
• Churchill's aims for Empire 1951-55


  • Convinced of British superiority and its essential presence at meetings of the top powers in the world
  • Wanted to preserve the Commonwealth and the Empire
  • At the beginning of their term however they professed an intention to continue the process towards 'self-government within the Commonwealth'
• Problems


  • The state of the British economy - it was recovering but faced fierce competition from Germany, France and Japan
  • The treasury continually warned the government that Britain was carrying too many foreign responsibilities to its resources
  • Both Churchill and Eden were opposed to Britain abandoning its overseas commitments, believing it would be damaging to its international status and economy
• Churchill's advantage


  • USA was more concerned about keeping its European allies devoted to struggle against communism than promoting decolonisation
  • USSR was not deeply involved outside Europe so Britain was able to maintain its imperial position free form external pressure
  • By 1951, the economy had improved
  • The devaluation of the pound in 1949 - from $4 to $2.80 - had helped British exports
  • In Africa, traditional leaders were still powerful and they displayed little interest in promoting nationalist mass movements that they could not control
• Approach in West Africa

  • By 1955, it was accepted that the Gold Coast and Nigeria should become independent
  • Most experts thought that the pace of decolonisation in West Africa was too rapid
• The state of the British economy was recovering but faced fierce competition from Germany, France and Japan. The treasury continually warned the government that Britain was carrying too many foreign responsibilities to its resources.
• Both Churchill and Eden were opposed to Britain abandoning its overseas commitments, believing it would be damaging to its international status and economy
• USA was more concerned about keeping its European allies devoted to struggle against communism than promoting decolonisation. USSR was not deeply involved outside Europe so Britain was able to maintain its imperial position free form external pressure.
• By 1951, the economy had improved. The devaluation of the pound in 1949 - from $4 to $2.80 - had helped British exports.
• In Africa, traditional leaders were still powerful and they displayed little interest in promoting nationalist mass movements that they could not control
• By 1955, it was accepted that the Gold Coast and Nigeria should become independent. Most experts thought this would make little difference to Britain's economic of strategic interest
• In Tanganyika, Uganda and Kenya there were few educated Africans and serious tribal divisions and quite large numbers of Asians migrants. In Kenya, there were also thousands of white settlers, accustomed to holding local political power, as well as social and economic privilege and they were determined to resist black rule. The white people had the support of many British Conservatives who hoped that Kenya would remain a 'white man's country'. Britain wanted to create an East Africa Federation, harnessing Tanganyika to Uganda but the plan was soon abandoned because of African opposition
• Mau Mau


  Kikuyu tribe protested against rising prices, the fact that the Europeans had the best faming land (which they used to own) and other aspects of racial discrimination. Failure of peaceful protests led to violence. It was between 1952-56. The rebels were Kikuyu, revolting peasants and some criminal gang activity. Its supporters killed 95 Europeans and 13 000 black people (many of whom worked for white employers). Only after Britain sent thousands of troops to Kenya was the rebellion supressed. Throughout imperial history, the British had generally wanted to act within the law but Kenya became a police state, dispensing racial terror. British security forces formed 'strike squads' to carry out assassinations, shot civilians in cold blood and massacred the innocent and the guilty. Between 1952-58, 1090 Africans were hanged. Mau Mau suspects were tortured to extract information. 10s of 1000s of Kikuyu were resettled in hundreds of gaol-villages where there was a regime of searches, curfews, restrictions and forced labour camps. This was effective at destroying much of Mau Mau organisation. Over 20 000 Mau Mau fighters were killed. Many black Kenyans showed little desire to help the movement which would simply replace British supremacy with Kikuyu supremacy. Britain also sponsored welfare programmes to help the ethnic groups who remained loyal
• White settlers had no intention of giving power to the black majority. Attlee and Churchill both supported the establishment of a Central African Federation which was formed in 1953. This gave white minority self-rule, but the British government maintained a veto over any legislation that might worsen the position of black people
• In 1951, Britain had 40 000 troops in the Suez Canal Zone. This was unpopular but previous attempts to force Britain out failed. Churchill regarded the Suez base as being of vital importance. 1936 Anglo-Egyptian treaty was due to expire in 1956 so Britain would not be able to lawfully maintain troops in any part of Egypt without their government's assent - which would not be given. In early 1952, there were riots in Cairo and a large numbers of British business premises were destroyed. In 1952, a group of Egyptian army officers seized power, forcing King Farouk into exile and Colonel Nasser came to power.
• By 1953, Britain's military leaders now agreed that the Suez base was no longer essential. Although 1/3 of ships using the canal were British it was no longer key to the route to India and did not seem to justify the cost of over £50m a year.
• 1954 Agreement


  British troops would be withdrawn within 20 months but Britain could reoccupy if Egypt was attacked. In return the Egyptians agreed to allow Britain free access through the Suez Canal, to maintain the bases in operational condition, respect the independence of the Suez Canal Company (ownership of which would revert to Egypt in 1968). Britain was keen to make the agreement because: they could not afford to maintained their bases against guerrilla attacks and they wanted to improve Arab-relations
• In 1953, Britain and Egypt reached an agreement on the Sudan which would give the country 3 years of virtual home-rule. After it would be able to choose between independence or a union with Egypt. The Sudanese choose independence in 1956 - which pleased Britain.
• Hoped Cyprus would become a suitable alternative base to help Britain sustain its dominance in the Middle East. However, by 1954, most Greek Cypriots (80% of population) wanted a union with Greece - something strongly opposed by the Turkish minority. Greek Cypriots, led by Archbishop Makarios pressed their demands and a guerrilla organisation (EOKA), led by Colonel Grivas waged a terrorist campaign, resulting in 200 deaths. Britain declared a state of emergency on 1 April 1955 and 25 000 British troops were sent to maintain order. By 1957, British troops had the upper hand and Grivas announced a truce
• Britain had to negotiate with the Arab League (group of leading Arab nations) in order to make sure they resisted Communism. However, the Arab League would not support Britain whilst they still had a military presence in Egypt
• 1955 Baghdad Agreement - Britain makes treaty with Turkey, Pakistan, Iraq, Persia to repel Soviet threat in Middle East. Nasser refused to join and encouraged Jordan not to sign. Egypt signs an arms deal with Czechoslovakia (Communist) and an alliance with Syria instead - Eden furious. 1956 Plans for Aswan High Dam- Nasser plans to develop Egypt by construction of new dam on the Nile. Britain and USA withdrew they financial aid for the project due to Nasser association with communist powers but USSR continued to fund the project, 1956 Nationalisation of the Suez Canal- in retaliation and to fund the dam Nasser seizes control of the Suez Canal Company (44% of which is owned by Britain.) and publicly denounced British imperialism. It was an extremely popular move in Egypt and throughout the Middle East
• Sevres Protocol


  Attempts were made to resolve the issue by diplomacy in the UN. Eden however became more aggressive and wanted to have Nasser removed because he made agreements with the soviets and he was a staunch advocate of Egyptian nationalism and pan-Arab unity- he aspired for Egypt to become the regional leader of the Arab world. Britain & France were both united in their desire to remove Nasser. France because of French shares in the Canal & Nasser's encouragement of Algerian nationalism, Israel also wanted to weaken the power of its Arab neighbour. A secret plan was hatched between Britain, France & Israel called the Sevres Protocol whereby: Israel would invade Egypt (29 Oct); Britain & France would demand a ceasefire & withdrawal of troops the Suez Canal Zone; Britain and France would invade the Suez Canal Zone (31 Oct) to 'defend' it