The Decline of an Ideal: The Conservatives and Immigration, 1958–1960

Abstract

Abstract Shortly after replacing Anthony Eden as Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan sent a note to Rab Butler stating, ‘I have no doubt you will be reporting to the Cabinet … about the situation in London and elsewhere in what are called the “race riots”… [W]e agreed not long ago to look again at the immigration question in a few months’ time. Perhaps we should look at it now.’ The migration issue was examined after the riots, and it continued to be until the introduction of restrictive legislation in 1962. This chapter focuses on two eventful years–1958 to 1960–during which a divisive argument within Whitehall and the Cabinet was carried in favour of control. The two years are of considerable scholarly interest, as they produced a rich abundance of documents on Commonwealth immigration. They demonstrate that a lengthy argument was waged between the Colonial Office and the Ministry of Labour over the legitimacy and necessity of migration controls. The right of free entry had its defenders in the British bureaucracy, and the argument in favour of control was won against their objections.