Harold Macmillan Flashcards
What year is it seen that Macmillan’s political skills began to decrease?
1962
When did Macmillan resign?
October 1963?
What was Macmillan’s famous line he used to excuse political ups and downs?
“Events, dear boy, events”
I) What was the biggest concern at the beginning of the 1960s?
II) what did this lead to?
III) What was the result?
I) The economy
II) An application to join the EEC in 1961
III) They were rejected in 1963
I) What was the “Night of the Long Knives”?
II) When did it happen?
III) What was it’s effect?
II) Macmillan reshuffled his cabinet, sacking a third of it
II) July 1962
III) The cabinet became weaker
How did Macmillan’s image change, and eventually damage him, in the 60s?
He was seen as out of touch, which was re-enforced by his marriage into the aristocracy
Give 2 examples of Spy Scandals during the Macmillan administration
1) George Blake was convicted of being a soviet spy in 1961
2) John Vassall was blackmailed, on the grounds of homosexuality, into passing information to the Soviet Union
What was the Profumo affair
Secretary for War John Profumo had an affair with 19-year-old model Christine Keeler and lied to the commons about it
What was the effect of the Profumo affair
I) The effects were short-lived BUT
II) It re-enforced the idea that the conservative government were out of touch
What was the final thorn in the side of the MacMillan administration?
Serious illness led to his resignation in October 1963
I) Who succeeded MacMillan?
II) Why was this a strange choice?
I) Sir (Lord) Alec Douglas-Home
II) He was a compromise between Rab Butler and Lord Hailsham