HAROLD MACMILLAN

• Macmillain faced a disastrous situation with Britain shown to be both foolish and weak as a result of the events in the Suez Canal, but his calm leadership made him popular both at home and abroad. He had a distinctive style and unlike WSC & Eden, he was warm, witty and a natural TV performer. He was prepared to move with the times by ending the death penalty, national service (1959) and declaring that Britain would have to accept African independence in 1960.
• The 1959 election was a high point because Britain seemed to prosper; Macmillan declared its people had never had it so good. He had restored good relations with the US, and he did his best to build bridges with the USSR. In 1962 he presided over the biggest sacking of cabinet ministers in political history when 7 senior ministers and 9 others lost their jobs known as the 'Night of the Long Knives.' There were also several scandals in the early 1960s.
• years?


  1957 to 1963