‘A Sordid Tussle on the Strand’: Rhodesia House during the UDI Rebellion (1965–80)

Abstract

Under the 1961 constitution, Rhodesia floated in a constitutional netherworld somewhere between a dominion and a colony. As Rhodesia's primary institutional link to the mother country, it was in the struggles over the status of their High Commission, Rhodesia House, that larger constitutional issues would be contested in microcosm. After UDI, Britain's awkward and unpopular policies towards the illegal regime in Africa were reflected in its policies regarding the London building and its occupants. The regime viewed Rhodesia House as a vital link to the outside world and sought to use it as a base from which to break out of its international isolation. The British shut down Rhodesia House in 1969, but its symbolic importance did not go away and it remained an important protest venue for demonstrators of all stripes. This article explores the significance of Rhodesia House during the fifteen-year rebellion and analyses what the controversies that swirled around the building say about the British imperial constitutional structure, the illegal regime's foreign policy goals and Britain's policy towards Rhodesia during this long and bizarre rebellion.