The following set of notes can be derived from the Access to History Text Chapter 2. Make
bullet points under each of the following questions:
1. Why was Eden’s premiership so short-lived?
- He begun his leadership by having a reputation of being in churchills shadow
- Suez crisis shattered his reputation as a satesman
- Stress and poor health
2. How did Britain become entangled in the Suez Venture?
- Nassar, egypt’s president, tried to nationalise the suez canal
- The suez canal transported essential oil to britain, this was a threat to eden
- The seuz canal being nationalised would have resuted in britain havi g to pay to use the
canal
- Why did Eden call off the Suez campaign?
- Eisenhower ( america) massively condemned this- important because of special
relationship
- British public outcry
- UN condemnation of Britain
- Reluctance of all but few of the commonwealth countries to support britain
- Catastrophic fall in britains currency reservesbecause large withdrawals of deposits by
international investors
- What were the consequences for Britain of the Suez venture?
- Eden had to resign,
- stained their relationship with the US
- Admission tht britain could not act alone in the post war world
- Led a number of people to to consider whether britain should consider a closer union
with europe
3. What economic policies did the Conservative government follow under
Macmillan?
- Operate under a loose form of keynesianism *Keynes advocated for increased government
expenditures and lower taxes to stimulate demand and pull the global economy out of the
depression
- Operate a mixed economy
- Stop and go policies constantly changed the interest rated to emncourage or discourage
spending
Problems :
- Not developed coherent economic policies but simple employed stop go tactis to avoid
massive swings in inflation and deflation
- Gap between rich and poor widened
- No structured financial strategy
4. How justified was Macmillan’s claim that under the Conservatives the British
people had ‘never had it so good?
- There were periods of higher inflation