macmillan’s Britain, 1957-63

Macmillan’s Rise & Early Popularity

• Succeeded Eden in 1957 after Suez.

• Benefited from:

  • A mixed economy

  • Rising living standards

  • Low unemployment

  • Declining inequality (1957 saw the most equal wages/living standards of the 20th century).

• Conservatives won the 1959 election with an increased majority.

1959 Election Results (Table 10)

• Conservatives: 49.4%, 365 seats (+21)

• Labour: 43.8%, 258 seats (–19)

Dissent on the Right (1958 Resignations)

Thorneycroft, Birch & Powell Resign

• Chancellor Peter Thorneycroft, Treasury Minister Nigel Birch, and Financial Secretary Enoch Powell resigned in 1959.

• They believed:

  • Government spending was too high

  • Inflation was the main threat (not unemployment)

  • Cuts, tax rises, and ending subsidies were needed

• Their resignations embarrassed the government but had little public impact due to low unemployment and low inflation.

• Their ideas later became central to Conservative thinking in the 1970s–80s.

Night of the Long Knives’ (1962)

Why Macmillan Acted

• Conservative popularity declining by 1962.

• Party seen as privileged, aristocratic, out of touch (35 ex‑Etonians in government).

• Labour under Gaitskell and then Wilson attacked the Conservatives as elitist.

• Rising consumer spending created new economic pressures.

• Macmillan needed to show he was in control.

What Happened

• Macmillan sacked seven cabinet ministers and replaced them with younger men.

• Aimed to modernise the party’s image and appear decisive.

• Move was initially shocking but ultimately popular with the public.

Scandals Undermining the Government (1950s–63)

Kim Philby (1963)

• Senior MI6 officer; long suspected Soviet spy.

• Macmillan had publicly cleared him in 1955.

• Defected to the USSR in 1963 → huge embarrassment.

• His senior MI6 role was kept secret until 1968.

John Profumo (1963)

• Secretary of State for War.

• Lied to Macmillan about an affair with Christine Keeler.

• Keeler also involved with a Soviet attaché → press framed it as a security scandal.

• Damaged government credibility.

Macmillan’s Fall & Douglas‑Home’s Premiership

Macmillan Resigns (1963)

• Ill health + political pressure forced resignation in October 1963.

Sir Alec Douglas‑Home

• Chosen as successor.

• Skilled administrator but suffered from a damaging aristocratic image.

• Former Earl; renounced his title to sit in the Commons.

• Mocked by satirists (e.g., Private Eye) → reinforced view that Conservatives were out of touch.