Macmillan

Turner, John

The latest addition to this distinguished series surveys the career of Harold Macmillan, from his days as an isolated and eccentric backbencher before the Second World War to his premiership of 1957-63. It explores his political ideas and political ambitions; his rise to supreme power; and the uses he made of it, in what was a key phase in Britain's search for, and adaptation to, a post-imperial role in the modern world. From an unprepossessing start, Macmillan first achieved influence under Churchill during the war, which he ended as Minister Resident - almost a Viceroy - in the Mediterranean theatre. He came to public prominence as a flamboyant and successful Minister of Housing in the early 1950s. He was then Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer under Eden. When the latter collapsed under the strain of the Suez debacle of 1956, Macmillan was well placed to snatch the...

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