1956 Episode 2.8 examines the increasingly secretive plotting which took place behind the scenes in early autumn 1956.
While Eden worked feverishly to make the conflict he desired come together, the countless variables continued to haunt him. We see here a glimpse of a common theme which will occupy us later on – the use of legal arguments to support the Anglo-French operation, on the grounds that Nasser had infringed upon British ‘rights’ and that Britain was thus entitled to compensation. In this episode we also are introduced to one of banes of Eden’s life, the leader of the Labour Party Hugh Gaitskell, who insisted that intervention in Egypt was wrong, and who began to suspect that something unsavoury was afoot despite what Eden told him.
Gaitskell was not the only one. Further abroad, the American desire to have a conference of Suez Canal users was met with private indignation from the British and French, whose governments would uphold to the end that Washington did not understand what was needed to deal with a man like Nasser. Increasingly, comparisons with Nasser to Hitler, and the idea that Britain must not ‘appease’ such figures yet again, did the rounds. Eden was determined to have his interventionist cake and eat it, and he instructed his Foreign Office deputies to look into the Charter of the United Nations as well. With so many different avenues to justification, Eden was certain that at least one of them had to provide a path to conflict. As we’ll see, he was ultimately to be disappointed.
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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.14: Attacked At Home
1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.13: When A Plan Comes Together
1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.12: Collusion And Delusion
1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.11: A Protocol For War
1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.10: Israeli Sneaky
1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.9: The Fix Is In
1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.7: Blind Intrigue
1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.6: The Entente Rides Again!
1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.5: Oh No Cairo
1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.4: Britain Bitten
1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.3: Egyptian Conniption
1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.2: Suez, A Life
1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.1: Bitter French Pills
1956 Part Two: The Suez Crisis Introduction
1956 1.15: Socialism Stays
1956 1.14: Lessons Learned and Forgotten
1956 1.13: Crushing Hope
1956 1.12: Hope Springs
1956 1.11: Gone But Nagy Forgotten
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