Night of the Long Knives (1962)
The epithet Night of the Long Knives is given to July 13, 1962, when the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan sacked the following members of his Cabinet:
- Lord Kilmuir (Con) — Lord Chancellor
- Selwyn Lloyd (Con) — Chancellor of the Exchequer
- David Eccles (Con) — Minister of Education
- Harold Watkinson (Con) — Minister of Defence
- John Scott Maclay (NatLib) — Secretary of State for Scotland
- Charles Hill (NatLib) — Minister of Housing and Local Government and Welsh Affairs
- Lord Mills (Con) — Minister without Portfolio
This unprecedented action was mockingly named by the newspapers, after the 1934 Nazi Night of the Long Knives[1], and marked the effective end of the National Liberals as a distinct force within British politics as they no longer had any Cabinet members. The remnants formally merged into Conservative and Unionist party in 1968.
The decision by Macmillan to dismiss so many members of the cabinet was widely blamed on the government's declining popularity, brought on mostly by controversy over the failed application to join the European common market, as well as difficulties with the economy which had initially thrived after Macmillan's election as prime minister in 1957.[2]
Jeremy Thorpe, one of Macmillan's political opponents, is quoted as saying:
| “ | greater love hath no man than this, that he should lay down his friends for his life. | ” |
This quote is adapted from John 15:13.
[edit] References
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Nigel Fisher - Harold Macmillan A Biography
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