Eden, Sir Anthony

(1897–1977)

   Having been elected as a Member of Parliament in 1923, Eden was soon seen as a rising star in the Conservative Party. He served as Foreign Secretary from 1935 to 1938, during the war (1940–5) and during the Churchill peacetime administration (1951–5), before taking over as Prime Minister on Churchill’s resignation. At the time, he was a highly popular figure, in part because of his long record of wartime and public service, but also on account of his charm and good looks. He quickly dissolved Parliament and the Conservatives were returned with an increased majority. In his second term, he was responsible for the Anglo-French intervention during the Suez crisis in 1956 which greatly damaged his reputation for sound judgement. He resigned for health reasons the following year. He was later made the first Earl of Avon in 1961. In a poll of political science academics conducted by MORI (2004), he was voted the least successful Prime Minister of the twentieth century.