The wind that failed to blow: British policy and the end of empire in the Gulf

Smith, Simon C.

Abstract

While directed primarily at Britain’s African colonies, the ethos of the ‘wind of change’ speech found echoes beyond Africa. Shortly after Harold Macmillan’s demarche, Colonial Secretary Iain Macleod asserted that ‘H.M.G.’s policy for all the dependent territories is that they should be advanced to independence or to responsible self-government, preferably within the Commonwealth. There are no exceptions to this rule.’1 While this might have been the case for ‘dependent territories’, the British protected states of the Persian Gulf remained stubbornly outside the remit of the wind of change. Indeed, whatever impact Macmillan’s famous invocation had on Africa and beyond, its resonance on the Gulf was negligible. A little over a year after Macmillan’s speech, Britain’s Political Resident in the Gulf, Sir William Luce, declared: it is no exaggeration to say that Britain at this moment stands more deeply committed in the Persian Gulf, both politically andmilitarily, than at any time since the last war, a situation which stands in marked contrast with the great contraction of our political andmilitary commitments elsewhere in the world over the past fifteen years.2

Citation

Smith, S. C. (2013). The wind that failed to blow: British policy and the end of empire in the Gulf. In L. Butler, & S. Stockwell (Eds.), The Wind of Change : Harold Macmillan and British Decolonization (235-251). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137318008_12

• Publication Date: 2013
• Deposit Date: Dec 19, 2014
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 235-251
• Series Title: Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series
• Book Title: The Wind of Change : Harold Macmillan and British Decolonization
• ISBN: 9780230361034
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137318008_12
• Keywords: REF 2014 submission
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/370849
• Contract Date: Dec 19, 2014