Macmillan, Harold

(1894–1986)

   First elected to the House of Commons in 1924 for Stockton-on-Tees, Harold Macmillan lost his seat in 1929 only to return in 1931. In the 1930s he was stuck on the backbenches, his progressive ideas and sharp criticism of Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain serving to isolate him. In World War Two he was part of the wartime coalition government. He was returned to Parliament in a November 1945 by-election and after the Conservatives regained power in 1951 he was minister of housing and then of defence under Winston Churchill and Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer under Anthony Eden, whom he succeeded on Eden’s resignation as Prime Minister in 1957. During his premiership, there was a considerable increase in the standard of living, which helped to give the Conservatives an increased majority in the 1959 election. He took an active role in Commonwealth and world affairs, working to develop closer relations with the United States, achieving a close rapport with John Kennedy. In 1960, he warned the South African parliament that Britain could no longer condone apartheid (separate development of the races) for a ‘wind of change’ was blowing across the African continent. He also moved the Conservatives towards a more pro-European policy but his government’s bid to join the European Economic Community was vetoed by General de Gaulle of France. This caused the Government to lose popularity and led to a series of byelection defeats. He was greatly embarrassed by a scandal of sex in high places (the Profumo Affair) in 1963. Following ill health and surgery, he resigned in October 1963. In retirement, Macmillan achieved some prominence through his attacks on monetarists and privatisers in the Thatcherite years. In one of his more memorable contributions, he likened privatisation to ‘selling the family silver’.