In British politics, the Night of the Long Knives was a major Cabinet
reshuffle that took place on 13 July 1962. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan
dismissed seven members of his Cabinet, one-third of the total. The speed and
scale of the reshuffle caused it to be associated by its critics with the 1934
Night of the Long Knives in Nazi Germany.
The reshuffle took place against a backdrop of declining Conservative
popularity in Britain. Conservative candidates fared poorly in several
by-elections, losing ground to Liberal candidates. Concerned that traditional
Conservative voters were expressing their disapproval with the government's
economic policies by switching to the Liberals, Harold Macmillan planned to
replace his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Selwyn Lloyd, with Reginald Maudling.
Lloyd had already clashed with Macmillan over his economic strategies, and
Maudling was considered to be more amenable to the economic policies
Macmillan wished to implement. The reshuffle was also an attempt to
reinvigorate the party, bringing in younger and more dynamic figures and
replacing some of the older and less capable ministers. After discussions
with Conservative Party Chairman Iain Macleod and Home Secretary Rab Butler, a
reshuffle was planned for Autumn 1962. Macmillan was overtaken by events when
Butler leaked the details of the reshuffle to press baron Lord Rothermere
over lunch on 11 July. The newspapers reported the impending changes on 12
July, and Macmillan made the decision to press ahead with the reshuffle at once.
Lloyd was called to a meeting that evening and dismissed. The remaining six
were informed the following day, 13 July. Macmillan faced sharp criticism
over the scale of the changes, and his political opponents both within the
Conservative Party and in the Opposition characterised him as ruthless and
opportunistic. Despite an initial sharp drop in his approval ratings, opinion
eventually swung back in his favour and the Party recovered. Macmillan regretted
the way the reshuffle was carried out, and was particularly concerned about his
treatment of Lloyd, who was a loyal confidant. Despite the dramatic changes
in the Cabinet, the Conservatives were rocked by a series of scandals in 1963
and Macmillan retired in October of that year after being misdiagnosed with
cancer. He was replaced as Prime Minister by Sir Alec Douglas-Home, who
was defeated in the 1964 general election.
Background The Conservatives won a convincing
majority at the 1959 general election, increasing their lead over their nearest
rivals, Labour. The Labour party were further weakened by internal disputes,
but the Conservatives' economic policies unveiled in the 1960 Budget proved
damaging. The tax cuts of 1959 were reversed, decreasing the government's
popularity while the Liberals began a revival. The Conservatives were forced
into third place in several by-elections, culminating in the loss of
the previously safe seat of Orpington in a March 1962 by-election victory for the
Liberal candidate, Eric Lubbock. The by-election result, announced on 14
March, came one day after the Blackpool North by-election, another former
Conservative safe seat; though the Conservative candidate Norman
Miscampbell succeeded in holding the Blackpool North seat, the previous
majority of 15,587 was reduced to just 973 by the Liberal candidate, Harry
Hague. The Conservatives were struggling with deep unpopularity over their
economic policies. A pay-pause and rising prices, together with discontent
at high taxation that was demonstrably inequitable, drove voters to protest
against government policies by switching their votes to the Liberals, or by
abstaining from voting Conservative. Macmillan saw in the by-election results
evidence that former Conservative voters would abandon their candidates in
support of the Liberals, who were well placed in Conservative safe seats. In
instances where the Liberals had no candidate standing, such as the Labour
safe seat of Pontefract, the Conservatives maintained their share of
the vote. When a Liberal candidate was fielded, such as at the Stockton-on-Tees
by-election in April, in a seat Macmillan himself formerly held, the
Conservatives saw large numbers of voters desert them for the Liberals.
Later by-elections confirmed the trend. By July the Chairman of the Conservative
Party Iain Macleod warned that a government reshuffle was necessary to
revitalise flagging support, a view confirmed by Martin Redmayne, the
Conservative Chief Whip. Macmillan met with Rab Butler on 21 June. With
Conservative unpopularity stemming from economic issues, they discussed
replacing Selwyn Lloyd as Chancellor of the Exchequer with Reginald Maudling.
Lloyd and Macmillan had already clashed over economic policy: Lloyd was opposed
to an incomes policy and reflation, and his austerity measures were causing
discontent. The Cabinet was also relatively elderly,
and with younger political leaders on the scene, like American President John
F. Kennedy, at a time of dramatic social changes, Macmillan resolved to bring
some younger men into important posts. The seven ministers earmarked for
replacement averaged 59 years of age. The incoming seven would have an average
age of 50. Butler was in favour of the move, and together with Macleod, they
worked out an orderly reshuffle of several Cabinet posts, including the
Chancellor of the Exchequer. In all, seven ministers were to be replaced,
amounting to one third of the total Cabinet of twenty-one.
12/13 July Macmillan intended to carry out the
reshuffle in autumn 1962 after parliament returned from its summer
recess. Events overtook him when, on 11 July, Butler lunched with Lord
Rothermere, proprietor of several newspapers, including the Daily Mail.
Butler let slip the details of the impending reshuffle, and the following
day the Daily Mail broke the plans to the public with the headline "Mac's
Master Plan". A horrified Macmillan, suspecting that the plans were
deliberately leaked by Butler to further his political career, felt compelled to
act. He summoned Lloyd to a meeting that evening and informed him that he was to
be replaced as Chancellor. He attempted to mollify Lloyd by suggesting that he
consider a career in the city as chairman of Martins Bank, and hinted at
the possibility of a peerage. Lloyd refused both. The remaining six
officeholders were informed the following day, 13 July. Mills, Maclay
and Watkinson were reported to have gone quietly, as did Hill, though he
expressed his disapproval on the way the reshuffle was handled. Eccles and
Kilmuir were the most disappointed, Eccles having hoped to succeed as
Chancellor, and Kilmuir later writing that Macmillan appeared to have lost his
'nerve and judgement'. The reshuffle was completed three days later with the
removal of nine junior ministers. Macmillan suggested on several
occasions, including at his meeting with Lloyd to dismiss him as Chancellor, that
he felt there was a conspiracy within the party to replace him as Prime
Minister. While the run of poor Conservative results led to informal
talk among party MPs and ministers, no such conspiracy existed. His intimations
of party disloyalty and the speed and surprise of the sackings were
particularly hurtful to Lloyd, who was loyal to Macmillan, and remained so even
after his dismissal. = Cabinet positions=
Aftermath The speed and size of the reshuffle was
unprecedented in British political history. The sackings were mockingly
named after the 1934 Night of the Long Knives, when Adolf Hitler suppressed the
Sturmabteilung supporters of Ernst Röhm. Macmillan was accused of having acted
hastily and of being ungrateful in sacking his party's most loyal
officials. His reputation of being calm and unflappable in a crisis was badly
tarnished, and his ratings in opinion polls fell sharply. His political
opponents made capital from this, Liberal MP Jeremy Thorpe observing that
"Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his friends for his
life." Lloyd was cheered on his next appearance in the House on 17 July,
while Macmillan was faced with silence from his own benches, and jeers from the
opposition. The opposition tabled a motion of censure against Macmillan,
which was debated on 26 July. Macmillan faced divisions within his own party,
Conservative MP Gilbert Longden congratulated him on keeping his head,
while all around him were losing theirs. Former Prime Minister Anthony Eden and
former Minister Nigel Birch also voiced their disapproval. Despite these voices
of dissent, the reaction from most Conservative MPs was positive.
The damage was relatively short-lived. Macmillan's position improved within a
few months of the affair. Butler was moved from the position of Home
Secretary and appointed First Secretary of State. Macmillan made out that it was
the equivalent of Deputy Prime Minister, a post that had lapsed after 1955. It
was in actuality a demotion. Butler was tasked with overseeing the Central
African Office, which moved him away from the more powerful state offices.
With Lloyd replaced as Chancellor by Maudling, Macmillan pushed ahead with
reflation. The more cautious Lloyd had rejected reflation because of the risk
of ultimately damaging the economy with a balance of payments crisis. Maudling
however was prepared to accept the devaluation of sterling and the
placement of controls on imports to stave off this eventuality. By the time
of the party conference Macmillan's popularity within his party had largely
recovered. Maudling reversed Lloyd's austerity measures that November,
following this up with cutting the tax on motor cars, and reducing the bank
rate and purchase tax. In the Spring 1963 budget he abolished the Schedule A
tax, one of the main causes of dissatisfaction with the Conservatives,
and a move which Lloyd had resisted. Liberal fortunes, which rested largely
on the unpopularity of these policies, declined thereafter. Labour recovered by
early 1963 as the exceptionally harsh winter that year drove up unemployment
and the economy unexpectedly faltered. Macmillan regretted the way the
reshuffle was carried out, and was particularly guilt-ridden over how he
treated his former confidante, Lloyd. He arranged a meeting with Lloyd on 1
August 1962, before which Macmillan's private secretary, Tim Bligh, informed
Lloyd that "He [Macmillan] is spending all the time thinking of how to bring
you back." Macmillan apologised to Lloyd, saying that he had made a mistake
in not discussing it with him beforehand, and that he was rushed, his
hand was forced. He again mentioned a conspiracy, suggesting that "Butler had
been plotting to divide the party on the Common Market, and bring him [Macmillan]
down." Despite the upswing in the
Conservatives' fortunes which followed after the disapproval over the reshuffle
abated, the Party suffered further problems. Macmillan's government was
rocked by the Vassall and Profumo Affairs the following year, and
Macmillan decided to step down in October 1963, citing ill-health. He was
replaced as Prime Minister by Sir Alec Douglas-Home, but the Conservatives were
defeated in the 1964 general election by Labour under Harold Wilson.
Notes References