Editing Suez Crisis (section)

=== British anti-war protests ===
[[File:1956-11-12 Near East Crisis.ogv|thumbtime=0:08|thumb|Newsreel from 12 November 1956 about the end of the invasion]]

Although the public believed the British government's justification of the invasion as a separation of Israeli and Egyptian forces,{{R|fairhall20110630}} protests against the war occurred in Britain after it began. On the popular television talk show ''Free Speech'', an especially bitter debate took place on 31 October with the leftist historian [[A. J. P. Taylor]] and the Labour journalist and future party leader [[Michael Foot]] calling their colleague on ''Free Speech'', the Conservative MP [[Robert Boothby, Baron Boothby|Robert Boothby]], a "criminal" for supporting the war.<ref name="Cole, Robert, p. 149">{{Cite book |last=Cole |first=Robert |title=A.J.P. Taylor the Traitor Within the Gates |location=London |publisher=Macmillan |date=1993 |page=149}}</ref>

One television critic spoke of ''Free Speech'' during the war that "the team seemed to not only on the verge of, but actually losing their tempers.... Boothby boomed, Foot fumed and Taylor trephined, with apparent real malice...."<ref name="Cole, Robert, p. 149"/> The angry, passionate, much-watched debates about the Suez war on ''Free Speech'' mirrored the divided public response to the war.<ref name="Cole, Robert, p. 149"/> The British government pressured the BBC to support the war,{{R|goodwin2005}} and seriously considered taking over the network.{{R|fairhall20110630}}

Eden's major mistake had been not to strike in July 1956 when there was widespread anger at Nasser's nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company, as by the fall of 1956 public anger had subsided, with many people in Britain having come to accept the ''[[fait accompli]]'', and saw no reason for war.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|2006|pp=230, 254–255}}</ref> This was especially the case as Eden's claims that the Egyptians would hopelessly mismanage the canal had proven groundless, and that by September 1956 it was clear that the change of management had not affected shipping.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|2006|p=254}}</ref>

Even more importantly, Eden's obsession with secrecy and his desire to keep the preparations for war as secret as possible meant that the Eden government did nothing in the months running up to the attack to explain to the British people why it was felt that war was necessary.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|2006|p=210}}</ref> Many of the reservists who were called up for their [[National Service]] in the summer and fall of 1956 recalled feeling bewildered and confused as the Eden government started preparing to attack Egypt while at the same time Eden insisted in public that he wanted a peaceful resolution of the dispute, and was opposed to attacking Egypt.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|2006|pp=206–210}}</ref> The British author [[David Pryce-Jones]] recalled that as a young officer, after the ultimatum was submitted to Egypt, he had to explain to his troops why war with Egypt was necessary without believing a word that he was saying.<ref>Pryce-Jones, David ''The Closed Circle: An Interpretation of the Arabs'', Chicago: Ivan Dee, 2002, p. 4.</ref> Only one British soldier, however, refused to fight.{{R|fairhall20110630}}

Gaitskell was much offended that Eden had kept him in the dark about the planning for action against Egypt, and felt personally insulted that Eden had just assumed that he would support the war without consulting him first.<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|p=388}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|2006|pp=230–231}}</ref> On 31 October he cited in Parliament the fact that, despite Eden's claim that the British government had consulted closely with the Commonwealth, no other member nation did; in the Security Council, not even Australia had supported the British action. He called the invasion{{R|eayrs1964}}{{Rp|208–209}}
{{Blockquote|an act of disastrous folly whose tragic consequences we shall regret for years. Yes, all of us will regret it, because it will have done irreparable harm to the prestige and reputation of our country ... we shall feel bound by every constitutional means at our disposal to oppose it.}}

The stormy and violent debates in the House of Commons on 1 November 1956 almost degenerated into fist-fights after several Labour MPs compared Eden to Hitler.<ref>{{Harvnb|Neff|1981|pp=388–389}}</ref> Yet the Prime Minister insisted, "We [are not] at war with Egypt now.[...] There has not been a declaration of war by us. We are in an armed conflict."<ref>{{Hansard|1956/nov/01/egypt-and-israel|access-date=29 April 2020}}</ref>  The journalist [[Malcolm Muggeridge]] and actor [[Robert Speaight]] wrote in a public letter that
{{Blockquote|The bitter division in public opinion provoked by the British intervention in the Middle East has already had one disastrous consequence. It has deflected popular attention from the far more important struggle in Hungary. A week ago the feelings of the British people were fused in a single flame of admiration for the courage and apparent success of the Hungarian revolt. Now, that success seems threatened by Russian treachery and brute force, and Hungary has appealed to the West.... It is the first, and perhaps will prove the only opportunity to reverse the calamitous decisions of Yalta.... The Prime Minister has told us that 50 million tons of British shipping are at stake in his dispute with President Nasser. What is at stake in Central Europe are rather more than 50 million souls. It may be objected that it is not so easy to help the Hungarians; to this excuse they are entitled to reply that it was not so easy to help themselves.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wilson|2008|pp=65–66}}</ref>}} The Suez Crisis played a key role in the reconciliation of the [[Gaitskellite]] and [[Bevanism|Bevanite]] factions of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], which both condemned the invasion, after the [[1955 Labour Party leadership election|1955 leadership election]]. Gaitskell was so impressed by his erstwhile rival [[Aneurin Bevan]]'s forceful condemnation of the invasion that he offered him the role of [[Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs|Shadow Foreign Secretary]], replacing [[Alfred Robens, Baron Robens of Woldingham|Alfred Robens]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Campbell |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/pistolsatdawntwo0000camp/13960/t6wx5mm07 |title=Pistols at Dawn: Two Hundred Years of Political Rivalry from Pitt and Fox to Blair and Brown |date=2010 |publisher=Vintage |isbn=978-1-8459-5091-0 |location=London |pages=216–228 |oclc=489636152}}</ref>

Lady [[Violet Bonham Carter]], an influential Liberal Party member, wrote in a letter to the ''Times'' that
{{Blockquote|I am one of the millions who watching the martyrdom of Hungary and listening yesterday to the transmission of her agonizing appeals of help (immediately followed by our "successful bombings" of Egyptian "targets") who have felt a humiliation, shame and anger which are beyond expression.... We cannot order Soviet Russia to obey the edict of the United Nations which we ourselves have defied, nor to withdraw her tanks and guns from Hungary while we are bombing and invading Egypt. Today we are standing in the dock with Russia.... Never in my lifetime has our name stood so low in the eyes of the world. Never have we stood so ingloriously alone.<ref name="Wilson, A.N. p. 66">{{Harvnb|Wilson|2008|p=66}}</ref>}}

According to public opinion polls at the time, 37% of the British people supported the war while 44% were opposed.<ref name="Walsh 2006">{{Cite web |last=Walsh |first=Lynn |date=October 2006 |title=The Suez Fiasco 1956 |url=http://www.socialismtoday.org/104/suez.html |access-date=22 August 2011 |publisher=Socialism Today}}</ref><ref name="Adamthwaite pages 449-464">{{Harvnb|Adamthwaite|1988|p=463}}</ref> ''[[The Observer]]'' newspaper in a leader (editorial) attacked the Eden government for its "folly and crookedness" in attacking Egypt while ''[[The Manchester Guardian]]'' urged its readers to write letters of protest to their MPs.<ref name="Turner, Barry, p. 354">{{Harvnb|Turner|2006|p=354}}</ref> ''[[The Economist]]'' spoke of the "strange union of cynicism and hysteria" in the government and ''[[The Spectator]]'' stated that Eden would soon have to face "a terrible indictment".<ref name="Turner, Barry, p. 354"/> The majority of letters written to MPs from their constituents were against the Suez attack.<ref>{{Harvnb|Adamthwaite|1988|pp=455–456}}</ref> Significantly, many of the letters came from voters who identified as Conservatives.<ref>{{Harvnb|Adamthwaite|1988|pp=456–457}}</ref> The historian [[Keith Feiling]] wrote "the harm done seems to me terrifying: for my part I have resigned from the party while the present leader is there".<ref name="Adamthwaite pages 449">{{Harvnb|Adamthwaite|1988|p=456}}</ref> The law professor and future Conservative cabinet minister [[Norman St John-Stevas, Baron St John of Fawsley|Norman St. John-Stevas]] wrote at the time:
{{Blockquote|I had wanted to stand for the party at the next election, but I cannot bring myself to vote for the party at the moment, let alone stand for it. I am thinking of joining the Labour Party and am having lunch with Frank Pakenham next week.<ref name="Adamthwaite pages 449"/>}}

The historian [[Hugh Trevor-Roper]] expressed regret that no senior minister resigned and hoped "some kind of national Tory party can be saved from the wreck".<ref name="Adamthwaite pages 449"/> A master at Eton College in a letter to his MP declared:
{{Blockquote|I write to you to express my complete abhorrence of the policy which the government is pursuing.... I have voted Conservative in the last three elections, but I am quite sure my next vote will be for a Labour candidate.<ref name="Adamthwaite pages 449"/>}}

The Labour Party and the Trade Union Congress organised nation-wide anti-war protests, starting on 1 November under the slogan "Law, not war!"<ref name="Walsh 2006"/> On 4 November, at an anti-war rally in Trafalgar Square attended by 30,000 people (making it easily the biggest rally in London since 1945), the Labour MP [[Aneurin Bevan]] accused the government of "a policy of bankruptcy and despair".<ref name="Aneurin Bevan 1956">{{Cite web |date=4 February 2010 |title=Aneurin Bevan 1956 |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2010/02/aneurin-bevan-1956-speech |access-date=22 August 2011 |website=New Statesman |location=UK}}</ref> Bevan stated at the Trafalgar rally:
{{Blockquote|We are stronger than Egypt but there are other countries stronger than us. Are we prepared to accept for ourselves the logic we are applying to Egypt? If nations more powerful than ourselves accept the absence of principle, the anarchistic attitude of Eden and launch bombs on London, what answer have we got, what complaint have we got? If we are going to appeal to force, if force is to be the arbiter to which we appeal, it would at least make common sense to try to make sure beforehand that we have got it, even if you accept that abysmal logic, that decadent point of view.<br /><br />We are in fact in the position today of having appealed to force in the case of a small nation, where if it is appealed to against us it will result in the destruction of Great Britain, not only as a nation, but as an island containing living men and women. Therefore I say to Anthony, I say to the British government, there is no count at all upon which they can be defended.<br /><br />They have besmirched the name of Britain. They have made us ashamed of the things of which formerly we were proud. They have offended against every principle of decency and there is only way in which they can even begin to restore their tarnished reputation and that is to get out! Get out! Get out!<ref name="Aneurin Bevan 1956"/>{{Dead link|date=October 2021}}}}

Inspired by Bevan's speech, the crowd at [[Trafalgar Square]] then marched on [[10 Downing Street]] chanting "Eden Must Go!", and attempted to storm the Prime Minister's residence.<ref name="Kyle, Keith 2011, p. 441">{{Harvnb|Kyle|2003|p=441}}</ref> The ensuing clashes between the police and the demonstrators which were captured by television cameras had a huge demoralising effect on the Eden cabinet,<ref>{{Harvnb|Kyle|2003|pp=441–442}}</ref> which was meeting there.<ref name="Kyle, Keith 2011, p. 441"/> The British historian Anthony Adamthwaite wrote in 1988 that American financial pressure was the key factor that forced Eden to accept a ceasefire, but the public protests, declining poll numbers and signs that many Conservative voters were deserting the government were important secondary factors.<ref name="Adamthwaite pages 449-464"/>