Editing Harold Macmillan (section)

====Foreign policy====
[[File:senandmacmillan.JPG|left|thumb| Macmillan with Indian Minister and head of Indian delegation [[Ashoke Kumar Sen]] and wife Anjana, daughter of [[Sudhi Ranjan Das]]]]
[[File:International Diplomacy.jpg|thumb|Macmillan meeting Eisenhower in Bermuda]]
Macmillan took close control of foreign policy. He worked to narrow the post-[[Suez Crisis|Suez Crisis (1956)]] rift with the United States, where his wartime friendship with Eisenhower was key; the two had a productive conference in [[Bermuda]] as early as March 1957.

In February 1959, Macmillan visited the Soviet Union. Talks with [[Nikita Khrushchev]] eased tensions in east–west relations over [[West Berlin]] and led to an agreement in principle to stop nuclear tests and to hold a further summit meeting of [[NATO|Allied]] and Soviet heads of government.{{sfn|Fisher|1982|p=214}}

In the Middle East, faced by the 1958 collapse of the [[Baghdad Pact]] and the spread of Soviet influence, Macmillan acted decisively to restore the confidence of [[Persian Gulf]] allies, using the Royal Air Force and [[Special Air Service|special forces]] to defeat a revolt backed by [[Saudi Arabia]] and Egypt against the Sultan of Oman, [[Said bin Taimur]], in July 1957;{{sfn|Fisher|1982|p=193}} deploying airborne battalions to defend [[Jordan]] against [[United Arab Republic|United Arab Republican]] subversion in July 1958;<ref>Horne, ''Macmillan'', Volume II, pp. 94–95.</ref> and deterring Iraqi demands  of [[Kuwait]] by landing a brigade group in June 1961 during the [[Operation Vantage|Iraq–Kuwait crisis of 1961]] .<ref>Horne, ''Macmillan'', Volume II, p. 419.</ref>

Macmillan was a major proponent and architect of [[decolonisation]]. The [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]] was granted independence as [[Ghana]], and the [[Federation of Malaya]] achieved independence within the Commonwealth of Nations in 1957. "The material strength of the Old Commonwealth members, if joined with the moral influence of the Asiatic members, meant that a united Commonwealth would always have a very powerful voice in world affairs," said Macmillan in a 1957 speech during a tour of the former British Empire.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Onslow |first=Sue |date=13 July 2015 |title=The Commonwealth and the Cold War, Neutralism, and Non-Alignment |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07075332.2015.1053965 |journal=[[The International History Review]] |volume=37 |issue=5 |pages=1059–1082 |doi=10.1080/07075332.2015.1053965 |s2cid=154044321 |access-date=14 March 2023}}</ref>