Eden ministry

In April 1955, following the resignation of Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, then-Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary, was invited to form government as he took over as Leader of the Conservative Party.

Eden then shortly asked Queen Elizabeth II to dissolve Parliament and call a general election for 26 May. Winning a majority of 60, he would later resign the office on 10 January 1957.

History

Formation

In April 1955, Sir Anthony Eden succeeded Sir Winston Churchill as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and finally reached the post he had coveted for so long. The original composition of Eden's cabinet was remarkable for the fact that ten out of the original eighteen members were Old Etonians: Eden, Salisbury, Crookshank, Macmillan, Home, Stuart, Thorneycroft, Heathcoat Amory, Sandys and Peake were all educated at Eton College.

He initially retained Rab Butler, with whom he did not get along, as Chancellor of the Exchequer. At the first cabinet reshuffle in December 1955, Eden demoted him to Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons. Eden was succeeded as foreign secretary by future prime minister Harold Macmillan, who, however, only held this post until December of the same year, when he replaced Butler as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Selwyn Lloyd gained his first cabinet post when he succeeded Macmillan as minister of defence in April 1955, and again replaced Macmillan as foreign secretary in December of that year. Another future prime minister, Alec Douglas-Home, entered the cabinet as Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations in 1955. Gwilym Lloyd George, younger son of former Liberal leader David Lloyd George, remained as home secretary.

Fate

Eden's decision to take military action over the Suez Crisis of 1956 caused major embarrassment for Britain and their French allies. Eden, then already in declining health, resigned as prime minister and Leader of the Conservative Party in January 1957. Harold Macmillan was chosen over Rab Butler to succeed as party leader and prime minister.

Cabinet

Changes

20 December 1955 reshuffle

• Rab Butler succeeded Harry Crookshank as Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons.
• Harold Macmillan succeeded Butler as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
• Selwyn Lloyd succeeded Macmillan as Foreign Secretary.
• Sir Walter Monckton succeeded Lloyd as Minister of Defence.
• Iain Macleod succeeded Monckton as Minister of Labour and National Service.
• Lord Selkirk succeeds Lord Woolton as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
• Minister of Works, Patrick Buchan-Hepburn, entered the cabinet
• Osbert Peake retired and his successor as Minister of Pensions and National Insurance was not in the cabinet.

19 October 1956

• In October 1956, Sir Walter Monckton became Paymaster General, a post which had been vacant since Lord Selkirk's promotion to Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
• Antony Henry Head succeeded Monckton as Minister of Defence.

List of ministers

Members of the Cabinet are in bold face.

Notes

Notes

Sources