Editing Harold Macmillan (section)

====Succession to Eden====
Britain's humiliation at the hands of the US caused deep anger among Conservative MPs. After the ceasefire a motion on the Order Paper attacking the US for "gravely endangering the Atlantic Alliance" attracted the signatures of over a hundred MPs.{{sfn|Howard|1987|p=239}}
Macmillan tried, but failed, to see Eisenhower (who was also refusing to see Foreign Secretary [[Selwyn Lloyd]]) behind Butler's and Eden's back. Macmillan had a number of meetings with [[United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom|US Ambassador]] [[Winthrop Aldrich]], in which he said that if he were prime minister the US Administration would find him much more amenable. Eisenhower encouraged Aldrich to have further meetings. Macmillan and Butler met Aldrich on 21 November. Eisenhower spoke highly of Macmillan ("A straight, fine man, and so far as he is concerned, the outstanding one of the British he served with during the war").{{sfn|Howard|1987|p=242}}<ref>Thorpe 2010, pp. 352–53 Eisenhower said these words in a meeting with Treasury Secretary [[George M. Humphrey|Humphrey]] (who was pro-Butler), [[Under Secretary of State]] [[Herbert Hoover, Jr.|Hoover]] and [[Staff Secretary]] [[Andrew Goodpaster]]. It is unclear whether there was ''direct'' pressure from the US Administration for Macmillan to be chosen, or rather whether being the candidate best placed to rebuild bridges with the Americans was simply another reason why leading Conservatives preferred him to Butler. Published accounts do not agree about the date of the meeting. Williams (2010, p. 270) lists it as happening on 20 November, a date repeated in Michael Jago's 2015 biography of Rab Butler. Macmillan's other recent biographer D. R. Thorpe gives it as 24 ''December'', presumably an error as the footnote refers to Eisenhower's papers for November 1956, while in his biography of Anthony Eden (2003, p. 539) Thorpe gives it as 24 November.</ref>

On the evening of 22 November 1956 Butler, who had just announced British withdrawal, addressed the [[1922 Committee]] (Conservative backbenchers) with Macmillan. After Butler's downbeat remarks, ten minutes or so in length, Macmillan delivered a stirring 35-minute speech described by [[Enoch Powell]] as "one of the most horrible things that I remember in politics ... (Macmillan) with all the skill of the old [[actor manager]] succeeded in false-footing Rab. The sheer devilry of it verged upon the disgusting." He expounded on his metaphor that henceforth the British must aim to be "Greeks in the Roman Empire", and according to [[Philip Goodhart]]'s recollection almost knocked Butler off his chair with his expansive arm gestures. Macmillan wrote "I held the Tory Party for the weekend, it was all I intended to do". Macmillan had further meetings with Aldrich and Winston Churchill after Eden left for Jamaica (23 November) while briefing journalists (disingenuously) that he planned to retire and go to the Lords.{{sfn|Howard|1987|pp=240–241}}{{sfn|Thorpe|2010|pp=353–354}} He was also hinting that he would not serve under Butler.{{sfn|Campbell|2010|p=269}}

Butler later recorded that during his period as acting Head of Government at Number 10, he noticed constant comings and goings of ministers to Macmillan's study in Number 11 next door, and that those who attended all seemed to receive promotions when Macmillan became prime minister. Macmillan had opposed Eden's trip to Jamaica and told Butler (15 December, the day after Eden's return) that younger members of the Cabinet wanted Eden out.{{sfn|Howard|1987|p=244}} Macmillan argued at Cabinet on 4 January that Suez should be regarded as a "strategic retreat" like [[Battle of Mons|Mons]] or [[Dunkirk evacuation|Dunkirk]]. This did not meet with Eden's approval at Cabinet on 7 January.{{sfn|Thorpe|2010|p=358}}

His political standing destroyed, Eden resigned on grounds of ill health on 9 January 1957.{{sfn|Beckett|2006|pp=77–78}} At that time the Conservative Party had no formal mechanism for selecting a new leader, and [[Queen Elizabeth II]] appointed Macmillan Prime Minister after taking advice from Churchill and [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury|the Marquess of Salisbury]], who had asked the Cabinet individually for their opinions, all but two or three opting for Macmillan. This surprised some observers who had expected that Eden's deputy Rab Butler would be chosen.{{sfn|Thorpe|2010|pp=361–362}} The political situation after Suez was so desperate that on taking office on 10 January he told the Queen he could not guarantee his government would last "six weeks", though ultimately he would be in charge of the government for more than six years.<ref>Harold Macmillan, ''The Macmillan Diaries, The Cabinet Years, 1950–1957'', ed. Peter Catterall (London: Macmillan, 2003).</ref>