Editing Harold Macmillan (section)

==Retirement, 1963–1986==
[[File:The Queen in Downing Street in 1985 to mark the 250th anniversary of Robert Walpole's occupancy of No.10 (cropped).jpeg|thumb|right|Macmillan with Queen [[Elizabeth II]] in 1985]]
Macmillan initially refused a peerage and retired from politics in September 1964, standing down at the following month's [[1964 United Kingdom general election|election]], which the Conservatives narrowly lost to Labour, now led by Harold Wilson.<ref>{{cite news |title=News: 15 October 1964 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/background/pastelec/ge64.shtml |url-status=live |publisher=BBC News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223064907/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/background/pastelec/ge64.shtml |archive-date=23 February 2012}}</ref> His service in the House of Commons totalled 37 years.

===Oxford chancellor (1960–1986)===
Macmillan had been elected [[Chancellor of the University of Oxford]] in 1960, in a campaign masterminded by [[Hugh Trevor-Roper]], and held this office for the rest of his life, frequently presiding over college events, making speeches and tirelessly raising funds. According to Sir [[Patrick Neill, Baron Neill of Bladen|Patrick Neill]] QC, the vice-chancellor, Macmillan "would talk late into the night with eager groups of students who were often startled by the radical views he put forward, well into his last decade."<ref name="Fletcher">{{citation |last=Fletcher |first=Martin |title='World pays tribute to Stockton – Death of former Conservative premier |newspaper=The Times |date=31 December 1986}}</ref>

===Return to Macmillan Publishers===
In retirement Macmillan took up the chairmanship of his family's publishing house, Macmillan Publishers, from 1964 to 1974. The publishing firm remained in family hands until a majority share was purchased in 1995 by the [[Holtzbrinck Publishing Group]]; the imprint persists.
Macmillan brought out a six-volume autobiography:

# ''Winds of Change, 1914–1939'' (1966) {{ISBN|0-333-06639-1}}
# ''The Blast of War, 1939–1945'' (1967) {{ISBN|0-333-00358-6}}
# ''Tides of Fortune, 1945–1955'' (1969) {{ISBN|0-333-04077-5}}
# ''Riding the Storm, 1956–1959'' (1971) {{ISBN|0-333-10310-6}}
# ''Pointing the Way, 1959–1961'' (1972) {{ISBN|0-333-12411-1}}
# ''At the End of the Day, 1961–1963'' (1973) {{ISBN|0-333-12413-8}}

Macmillan's biographer acknowledges that his memoirs were considered "heavy going".{{sfn|Thorpe|2010|p=587}} Reading these volumes was said by Macmillan's political enemy Enoch Powell to induce "a sensation akin to that of chewing on cardboard".<ref>Richard Vinen: ''Thatcher's Britain. The Politics and Social Upheaval of the 1980s''. (Simon & Schuster, London 2009), p. 316</ref> Butler wrote in his review of ''Riding the Storm'': "Altogether this massive work will keep anybody busy for several weeks."{{sfn|Howard|1987|p=353}}

Macmillan's wartime diaries were better received.
* ''War Diaries: Politics and War in the Mediterranean, January 1943&nbsp;– May 1945'' (London: Macmillan, 1984) {{ISBN|0-333-37198-4}}

Since Macmillan's death, his diaries for the 1950s and 1960s have also been published, both edited by [[Peter Catterall]]:
* ''The Macmillan Diaries: The Cabinet Years 1950–57'' (London: Macmillan, 2003) {{ISBN|0-333-71167-X}}
* ''The Macmillan Diaries Vol II: Prime Minister and After 1957–1966'' (London: Macmillan, 2011) {{ISBN|1-405-04721-6}}

Macmillan burned his diary for the climax of the Suez Affair, supposedly at Eden's request, although in Campbell's view more likely to protect his own reputation.{{sfn|Campbell|2010|p=266}}

===London clubs===
Macmillan was a member of many clubs. On his first evening as prime minister he made a public show of taking the [[Chief Whip of the Conservative Party|Chief Whip]] [[Edward Heath]] for oysters at the [[Turf Club (Gentlemen's Club)|Turf Club]].{{sfn|Horne|1989|pp=5, 13}}

He became president of the [[Carlton Club]] in 1977 and would often stay at the club when he had to stay in London overnight. Within a few months of becoming president, he merged the Carlton and [[Junior Carlton Club|Junior Carlton]]. He was also a member of [[Buck's Club|Buck's]], [[Pratt's]], the Turf Club and [[Beefsteak Club]]. He also once commented that [[White's]] was 75% gentlemen and 25% crooks, the perfect combination for a club.{{sfn|Thorpe|2010|p=605}}

===Political interventions===
Macmillan made occasional political interventions in retirement. Responding to a remark made by Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson about not having boots in which to go to school, Macmillan retorted: 'If Mr Wilson did not have boots to go to school that is because he was too big for them.'<ref>'The Wit and Wisdom Inside No 10', ''Daily Express'' (27 March 2008), p. 13.</ref>

Macmillan accepted the [[Order of Merit]] in 1976.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=46872 |date=9 September 1976 |page=5299 }}</ref> In October of that year he called for "a Government of National Unity" including all parties, which could command the public support to resolve [[1976 Sterling crisis|the economic crisis]]. Asked who could lead such a coalition, he replied: "Mr Gladstone formed his last Government when he was eighty-three. I'm only eighty-two. You mustn't put temptation in my way."{{sfn|Fisher|1982|pp=359–360}} He discussed the idea with Eden, but the IMF loan saved the country and the Labour government.{{sfn|Fisher|1982|pp=359–360}}

Macmillan still travelled widely, visiting China in October 1979, where he held talks with senior Vice-Premier [[Deng Xiaoping]].{{sfn|Fisher|1982|p=355}}

===Relations with Margaret Thatcher===
[[File:Thatcher-loc.jpg|thumb|right|upright|alt=Photograph|Macmillan became critical of [[Margaret Thatcher]] (pictured in 1975)]]
Macmillan found himself drawn more actively into politics after [[Margaret Thatcher]] became Conservative leader in February 1975.<ref>{{cite news |title=1975: Tories choose first woman leader |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/11/newsid_2539000/2539451.stm |url-status=live |work=BBC News |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |date=11 February 1975 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307132235/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/11/newsid_2539000/2539451.stm |archive-date=7 March 2008 }}</ref> After she ended Labour's five-year rule and became prime minister in [[1979 United Kingdom general election|May 1979]],<ref>{{cite news |title=1979: Election victory for Margaret Thatcher |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/4/newsid_2503000/2503195.stm |url-status=live |work=BBC News |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |date=4 May 1979 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071219230053/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/4/newsid_2503000/2503195.stm |archive-date=19 December 2007 }}</ref> he told [[Nigel Fisher]] (his biographer, and himself a Conservative MP): "Ted [Heath] was a very good No2 {pause} not a leader {pause}. Now, you have a ''real'' leader. {long pause} Whether she's leading you in the right direction ..."{{sfn|Fisher|1982|p=362}}

The record of Macmillan's own premiership came under attack from the [[monetarists]] in the party, whose theories Thatcher supported.<ref name="vinen2009">{{cite book |last1=Vinen |first1=Richard |title=Thatcher's Britain : the Politics and Social Upheaval of the Thatcher Era |date=2009 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=London |isbn=9781847371751}}</ref>{{rp|27}} In a celebrated speech he wondered aloud where such theories had come from:

{{quote|Was it America? Or was it [[Tibet]]? It is quite true, many of Your Lordships will remember it operating in the [[nursery (room)|nursery]]. How do you treat a cold? One [[nanny]] said, 'Feed a cold'; she was a [[neo-Keynesian]]. The other said, 'Starve a cold'; she was a monetarist.<ref name="Apple">{{cite news|last=Apple|first=R. W. Jr.|title=Macmillan, at 90, Rouses the Lords|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=14 November 1984|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/14/world/macmillan-at-90-rouses-the-lords.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171210123907/http://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/14/world/macmillan-at-90-rouses-the-lords.html|archive-date=10 December 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref>}}

Macmillan was one of several people who advised Thatcher to set up a small [[War Cabinet#Falklands War|War Cabinet]] to manage the [[Falklands War]].{{sfn|Thorpe|2010|p=663}} On his advice she excluded the Treasury from this body.<ref name="vinen2009" />{{rp|148}} Having first inquired whether Argentina was known to have atomic weapons, Macmillan's advice was to appoint a senior military advisor, as [[Pug Ismay]] had been in the Second World War (in the event [[Admiral Lewin]], [[Chief of the Defence Staff (United Kingdom)|Chief of Defence Staff]], performed this role). She had already received advice to exclude the Treasury from [[Frank Cooper (civil servant)|Frank Cooper]] (the [[Permanent Under-Secretary]] for Defence), not least because of Macmillan's own behaviour, as Chancellor, in demanding a halt to the Suez operation.{{sfn|Moore|2013|pp=679–680}} She later recalled: 'I never regretted following Harold Macmillan's advice. We were never tempted to compromise the security of our forces for financial reasons. Everything we did was governed by military necessity.'<ref name=thatcher1993>{{cite book |last=Thatcher |first=Margaret |title=The Downing Street Years |date=1993 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=London |isbn=0002550490}}</ref>{{rp|188}}

With hereditary peerages again being created under Thatcher, Macmillan requested the earldom that had been customarily bestowed to departing prime ministers, and on 24 February 1984 he was created '''[[Earl of Stockton]]''' and '''Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden'''.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=49660 |date=29 February 1984 |page=2951 |nolink=yes}}</ref> He is the last non-royal recipient of a hereditary peerage. He took the title from his former parliamentary seat on the edge of the [[County Durham|Durham]] coalfields, and in his maiden speech in the [[House of Lords]] he criticised Thatcher's handling of the [[UK miners' strike (1984–85)|coal miners' strike]] and her characterisation of striking miners as "the enemy within".<ref name=thatcher1993 />{{rp|370}} He received an unprecedented standing ovation for his oration, which included the words:

{{quote|It breaks my heart to see — and I cannot interfere — what is happening in our country today. This terrible strike, by the best men in the world, who beat the Kaiser's and Hitler's armies and never gave in. It is pointless and we cannot afford that kind of thing. Then there is the growing division of comparative prosperity in the south and an ailing [[Northern England|north]] and [[Midlands]]. We used to have battles and rows but they were quarrels. Now there is a new kind of wicked hatred that has been brought in by different types of people.<ref name="Apple"/>}}

As Chancellor of Oxford University, Macmillan condemned its refusal in February 1985 to award Thatcher an honorary degree. He noted that the decision represented a break with tradition, and predicted that the snub would rebound on the university.<ref>{{Citation|title=Lord Stockton has condemned Oxford University's decision not to give Mrs Thatcher an honorary degree|newspaper=The Guardian|date=4 February 1985|page=28}}</ref>

Macmillan is widely supposed to have likened Thatcher's policy of [[privatisation]] to "selling the family silver". His precise quote, at a dinner of the [[Tory Reform Group]] at the [[Royal Overseas League]] on 8 November 1985, was on the subject of the sale of assets commonplace among individuals or states when they encountered financial difficulties: "First of all the [[Georgian era|Georgian]] silver goes. And then all that nice furniture that used to be in the [[Drawing room|salon]]. Then the [[Canaletto]]s go." Profitable parts of the steel industry and the railways had been privatised, along with [[British Telecom]]: "They were like two [[Rembrandt]]s still left."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Watkins |first1=Alan |title=A Conservative Coup : the fall of Margaret Thatcher |date=1992 |publisher=Duckworth |location=London |isbn=0715624350 |page=105 |edition=2nd}}</ref>

Macmillan's speech was much commented on, and a few days later he made a speech in the House of Lords, referring to it:

{{quote|When I ventured the other day to criticise the system I was, I am afraid, misunderstood. As a Conservative, I am naturally in favour of returning into private ownership and private management all those [[means of production]] and distribution which are now controlled by state capitalism. I am sure they will be more efficient. What I ventured to question was the using of these huge sums as if they were income.<ref>{{cite Hansard |title=New Technologies |house=House of Lords |date=14 November 1985 |volume=468 |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/1985-11-14/debates/2b4dd2ca-0975-40a9-ab6b-b65e5b012b01/NewTechnologies |column_start=390 |column_end=391 |speaker=The Earl of Stockton}}</ref>}}