204 Facts About Selwyn Lloyd

Selwyn Lloyd's tenure coincided with the Suez Crisis, for which he at first attempted to negotiate a peaceful settlement, before reluctantly assisting with Eden's wish to negotiate collusion with France and Israel as a prelude to military action.

Selwyn Lloyd continued as Foreign Secretary under the premiership of Harold Macmillan until July 1960, when he was moved to the job of Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Selwyn Lloyd returned to office under Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home as Leader of the House of Commons, and was elected Speaker of the House of Commons from 1971 until his retirement in 1976.

Selwyn Lloyd's father, John Wesley Lloyd, was a dental surgeon and Methodist lay preacher of Welsh descent; his mother, Mary Rachel Warhurst, was distantly related to Field Marshal Sir John French.

Selwyn Lloyd was educated at the Leas School and as a boy was particularly interested in military history, to which he later attributed his successful military career.

Selwyn Lloyd played rugby and was disappointed not to get a Blue.

Selwyn Lloyd became President of the Cambridge University Liberal Club.

Selwyn Lloyd was an active debater in the Cambridge Union Society, where his sparring-partners included Rab Butler, Patrick Devlin, Hugh Foot, Alan King-Hamilton and Geoffrey Selwyn Lloyd.

Selwyn Lloyd lost his scholarship in June 1925, after obtaining a Second in Classics.

Selwyn Lloyd then switched to study History, in which he obtained a Second.

The university authorities encouraged students who had worked for the government so close to their exams to extend their studies for an extra year, which meant that Selwyn Lloyd was able to spend a very rare fifth year as an undergraduate.

Selwyn Lloyd George had become Liberal leader and was injecting money and ideas into the Liberal Party, and was keen to attract promising young candidates.

Selwyn Lloyd was a frequent speaker for the Liberal Party from 1926 onwards.

Selwyn Lloyd won the debate by 378 votes to 237 and was elected Secretary for Lent Term 1927, putting him on track to be Vice-President for Easter Term 1927, then President in Michaelmas 1927.

Selwyn Lloyd finally graduated with a third-class in Part II of the Law Tripos in June 1928.

Selwyn Lloyd was a Liberal Parliamentary candidate at Macclesfield in the 1929 general election, coming third.

Selwyn Lloyd declined to stand again for Macclesfield as a Liberal in 1931 over tariffs, and thought the rump National Liberal Party not worth joining.

Selwyn Lloyd voted Conservative for the first time at the 1931 election, although in that year he declined an invitation to join the Conservative Party candidates' list.

Selwyn Lloyd joined Hoylake Urban District Council on 19 April 1932, as a councillor for Grange Ward.

Selwyn Lloyd continued to serve on the council until 1940.

Selwyn Lloyd considered himself a Conservative from the mid-1930s, but did not formally join the Conservative Party until he was selected as a Parliamentary candidate in 1945; he later wrote that he would have taken a more active role in Conservative politics had it not been for the war.

Selwyn Lloyd was commissioned as a regular second lieutenant on 27 June 1939, and by August, with war seeming ever more likely, he was an acting captain and acting brigade major to Brigadier Cherry, CRA of the 55th Infantry Division, a first-line Territorial Army formation.

Selwyn Lloyd was appointed BMRA to Brigadier Cherry, despite "not knowing anything about guns etc".

Montgomery was promoted to command South-Eastern Command at Reigate and on 18 December 1941 Selwyn Lloyd was posted to join him.

Selwyn Lloyd wanted to see fighting, and was disappointed not to be posted to Egypt with Montgomery when the latter took command of the Eighth Army in August 1942.

Selwyn Lloyd was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in June 1943.

Between June and August 1943 Selwyn Lloyd was sent on a fact-finding trip to Algiers, Malta and Sicily, to examine German beach defences and to learn lessons from the recent Operation Torch and Operation Husky landings, and on his return had to make presentations to senior officers.

Selwyn Lloyd later recalled that the work preparing for the Normandy landings was more intense than at any other time in his life.

Selwyn Lloyd grew particularly close to Dempsey, with whom he crossed over to Normandy on D-Day and who remained a personal friend for the rest for their lives.

The only unforeseen problem was an outbreak of malaria caused by an infestation of mosquitoes around a flooded ditch in I Corps sector, for which Selwyn Lloyd had to arrange the transfer of malaria vaccines from Burma.

Selwyn Lloyd was selected in preference to a VC bearing rival, who refused to pledge to live in the constituency; when asked Lloyd replied that he had "never lived anywhere else".

Selwyn Lloyd was promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire in February 1945 and was promoted to acting brigadier on 8 March 1945.

Selwyn Lloyd was with the Allied forces which liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

Selwyn Lloyd seldom spoke about Belsen, but later recalled seeing inmates living like animals, defecating in public view, and that there was no smell from the 10,000 corpses lying unburied as they were emaciated, with no flesh to putrefy.

Selwyn Lloyd was sent by Dempsey to identify Heinrich Himmler's body after his suicide.

Selwyn Lloyd recalled a corporal lifting Himmler's head with his boot, and then the dull thud of the head falling back as the corporal took his foot away.

Selwyn Lloyd ended his active army service with the honorary rank of colonel.

On 18 July 1947, Selwyn Lloyd was appointed the honorary Colonel of 349 37th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery.

Selwyn Lloyd was awarded the Territorial Decoration in August 1951.

Selwyn Lloyd retired from the Territorial Army Reserve on 2 March 1955 with the honorary rank of colonel.

Selwyn Lloyd was elected to the House of Commons to represent Wirral in the 1945 general election by a majority of 16,625.

Selwyn Lloyd became a member of the "Young Turks" faction of the Conservative Party.

Selwyn Lloyd was the Recorder of Wigan between 1948 and 1951.

Selwyn Lloyd expressed his opposition to capital punishment during the passage of the Criminal Justice Act 1948, and built relationships with other abolitionist MPs including Sidney Silverman.

Selwyn Lloyd gave a dissenting voice on the Beveridge Broadcasting Committee, and was sometimes known as "The Father of Commercial Television" after his minority report of 1949 helped inspire the setting-up of ITV in 1955.

Selwyn Lloyd believed that competition would help to raise standards, although in later life he came to be disappointed at how much of television time was given over to entertainment.

Selwyn Lloyd helped to negotiate the treaty which gave Sudan self-government for three years as a stepping-stone to a decision on full independence.

Selwyn Lloyd visited Cairo in March 1953, where he met the new Egyptian leader General Neguib, and his right-hand man Colonel Nasser.

Selwyn Lloyd's visit to the Sudan saw riots in Khartoum and worries that he might meet the same fate as General Gordon in 1885.

Selwyn Lloyd wrote of the Sudan: "It is futile to try and outstay one's welcome".

Selwyn Lloyd attended over a hundred Cabinet meetings, many of them whilst covering for Eden during his serious illness in 1953.

Selwyn Lloyd was promoted to Minister of Supply, responsible for supplying the Armed Forces, in October 1954.

Selwyn Lloyd entered the Cabinet as Minister of Defence on Eden's accession to the premiership in April 1955.

Selwyn Lloyd was Minister of Defence, a very prestigious post in Conservative eyes, for less than a year and the dates of his tenure meant that he was not in office during the annual defence white paper and defence debate; however, he made important innovations in long-term expenditure planning.

Selwyn Lloyd began a gradual process of consolidation of control of the Armed Forces which would finally come to fruition a decade or so later, with the three service ministries consolidated into a single Ministry of Defence and the three service chiefs reporting to a powerful Chief of Defence Staff.

Selwyn Lloyd was promoted to Foreign Secretary in December 1955, in place of Harold Macmillan who was seen as too strong and independent a figure for Eden's tastes.

Eden and Selwyn Lloyd visited Washington for talks with his American counterpart, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, on 30 January 1956, and wondered how long Britain could continue to cooperate with Colonel Nasser.

Selwyn Lloyd preferred negotiations to force and, with his experience of military logistics, was sceptical as to whether a successful invasion could even be mounted.

Selwyn Lloyd helped to negotiate a formula for a new convention, in which Egypt would receive increased canal revenues and would have a place on the board of a new operating company.

Dulles noted that "Mr Selwyn Lloyd is showing obvious emotional strain" ; Macmillan at this stage was telling Dulles that he hoped to be restored to the Foreign Office soon.

Whilst Selwyn Lloyd was negotiating, sections of the British press were drawing parallels between Nasser's deeds and the Chanak crisis of 1922 and the Anschluss of Austria in February 1938 and demanding action, a view shared by Eden and many other senior ministers.

Selwyn Lloyd was disappointed by the failure of the Menzies mission to Cairo.

At Cabinet on 11 September 1956 Eden gave what Selwyn Lloyd later called the "clearest possible indication of intention to use force".

Selwyn Lloyd chaired the Second London Conference, working on Dulles' SCUA proposal, a plan with which he was willing to cooperate.

Selwyn Lloyd wanted an immediate appeal to the UN to enforce rights of passage.

Selwyn Lloyd later wrote of Dulles that because of his experience as a corporate lawyer there was always "an escape clause".

Eden and Selwyn Lloyd flew to Paris for talks with Guy Mollet and Christian Pineau, without an interpreter and to which Sir Gladwyn Jebb, British Ambassador in Paris, was not invited.

In New York Selwyn Lloyd attended the United Nations Security Council meeting, where he met Christian Pineau and Dr Fawzi, the French and Egyptian foreign ministers.

Whilst Selwyn Lloyd was away, the Conservative Party Conference was in session at Llandudno, with loud calls for action against Nasser.

Selwyn Lloyd later wrote that agreement had been reached on the Six Principles, but not on how to implement them, although he conceded that Nasser had never accepted the principle that the Canal could not be under the control of any one country.

In Paris Eden and Selwyn Lloyd had talks with their French counterparts Prime Minister Guy Mollet and Foreign Minister Christian Pineau.

Selwyn Lloyd continued to press his doubts, but to no avail.

Selwyn Lloyd urged international control over toll increases, with disputes referred to an independent body.

Selwyn Lloyd reported to the Egypt Committee on the Security Council meeting in New York.

Butler later recorded that Selwyn Lloyd had gripped him by the arm, telling him that he had been "wafted" to Paris and warning him confidentially that there might be a preemptive strike by Israel against Jordan, Egypt and Syria.

Butler's biographer Michael Jago thinks that Selwyn Lloyd's behaviour was evidence that he was out of his depth.

Selwyn Lloyd reported to the Cabinet on the Security Council vote to keep the Canal insulated from the politics of any one country, despite Soviet veto of the second part of the resolution.

The press were told that Selwyn Lloyd had a cold so that he could go to Paris in secret to meet the Israelis.

Selwyn Lloyd nearly had a serious car accident between Paris airport and Sevres.

Selwyn Lloyd commented, in a joke which fell flat, that he ought to have turned up wearing a false moustache, a comment which Maurice Bourges-Maunoury misremembered and claimed that Lloyd actually had turned up wearing a false moustache.

Selwyn Lloyd met Pineau, who said that the Israelis would attack Egypt but only with Anglo-French air support.

Selwyn Lloyd warned that the UN, the Commonwealth and Scandinavian countries were opposed to the use of force.

Israel demanded that British Canberra bombers bomb Egypt from their bases in Cyprus; Selwyn Lloyd merely promised to seek the Cabinet's opinion on the matter.

Selwyn Lloyd demanded that British airstrikes be delayed for 48 hours after the outbreak of hostilities, so that collusion would not be too obvious, but in the end compromised on 36 hours.

Selwyn Lloyd was still worried about an Israeli attack on Jordan.

At 10am Selwyn Lloyd reported to a group of senior ministers, then to the Cabinet at 11am.

Selwyn Lloyd told the Cabinet that he was still hoping for a peaceful settlement, but that the French were not interested in a peaceful settlement and that Nasser would retain his interest in the Middle East.

Selwyn Lloyd dined with Eden and Lloyd joined them after dinner.

Selwyn Lloyd refused to return to Sevres as he could hardly pretend to be ill again after having just appeared in public.

Selwyn Lloyd then had a tense meeting with Ivone Kirkpatrick and Gladwyn Jebb, who was still angry at being kept in the dark.

At 11pm Selwyn Lloyd went to 10 Downing Street to hear Dean's report on the second Sevres meeting.

Selwyn Lloyd regarded it as a lawyerishly careful statement although it has been portrayed by some writers as an outright lie to the House of Commons.

Selwyn Lloyd resisted the temptation to join him and continued to ask questions about military logistics at Cabinet.

At the 4.30pm Cabinet, records for which were closed until 2007, Selwyn Lloyd was concerned about the effect on Britain's Arab client states of being seen to be too closely linked to Israel.

At the 9.30pm Cabinet Selwyn Lloyd reported on the problem of arms exports to Israel, and reported that he had been asked by BP whether or not to divert a cargo of aviation fuel currently intended for Israel.

Selwyn Lloyd spent the whole day at 10 Downing Street, first in private talks with Eden, during which he advised that to call off the operation at this late stage would lead to "dreadful consequences".

Selwyn Lloyd reported that the USA had not pushed for a vote on her UN General Assembly resolution, but that resolutions calling for a UN peacekeeping force had been proposed by Canada and by a group of African and Asian countries.

Selwyn Lloyd advised that Britain should respond to the Canadian but not to the Afro-Asian ultimatum, but warned of the threat of oil sanctions.

Selwyn Lloyd raised the question of what would happen if both Israel and Egypt agreed to a ceasefire before British and French troops had gone in.

Selwyn Lloyd was among the majority of the 18 present who wanted to push ahead with the invasion.

Selwyn Lloyd was given a rough ride in the House of Commons when he announced the Soviet crushing of the Hungarian uprising.

The news of Nutting's resignation came through at 6.30pm while Selwyn Lloyd was attending a sherry party at 10 Downing Street ahead of the State Opening of Parliament.

Selwyn Lloyd said that the UN would continue to debate the matter and that although Britain could hold on for another three or four weeks there was nothing to be gained in antagonising world opinion any further.

Selwyn Lloyd offered his resignation but his colleagues refused to accept it, and was later deeply hurt when Lord Hinchingbrooke, a member of the Suez group, said that he should have resigned.

Selwyn Lloyd's impending divorce was given as the ostensible reason for his offer of resignation.

Aneurin Bevan commented that Selwyn Lloyd gave the impression of never having warned Israel not to attack Egypt.

Selwyn Lloyd later confirmed to Butler in September 1962 that he had expressed no preference.

Selwyn Lloyd was paradoxically a beneficiary of Suez, as Eden might well have reshuffled him away from the Foreign Office.

Macmillan delegated a lot more than Eden, and allowed Selwyn Lloyd to come into his own.

Selwyn Lloyd was allowed to use Chequers, normally the Prime Minister's country residence, although Macmillan did not formally renounce the use of the place as by law he would not have been allowed to claim it back in the space of that Parliament.

Selwyn Lloyd's reappointment was met, in the words of a contemporary observer, with a "long, cold arch of raised eyebrows", whilst Aneurin Bevan likened Selwyn Lloyd to a monkey to Macmillan's organgrinder.

Selwyn Lloyd accompanied Macmillan to Bermuda, where Anglo-American relations were repaired, although private discussions were more frank than the press releases might have suggested.

Over dinner Selwyn Lloyd launched a strong attack on Nasser; Dulles replied that the USA would not defend Nasser's regime but were not actively going to try to overthrow him.

Whilst in Bermuda Macmillan, after consultation with Selwyn Lloyd, agreed to release Archbishop Makarios, who had been exiled to the Seychelles in March 1956, after being advised that this might calm EOKA down.

Selwyn Lloyd's divorce was in progress between March and June 1957.

Selwyn Lloyd tried to resign in May 1957, citing as the reason the unfavourable publicity which his divorce might attract.

Selwyn Lloyd again offered his resignation after a poor performance in the two-day Foreign Affairs debate in February 1958, but Macmillan refused to accept it as he had recently had his entire Treasury team resign.

Selwyn Lloyd coordinated with Dulles and US troops were sent to Lebanon in accordance with the "Eisenhower Doctrine".

Selwyn Lloyd wanted to go to the Anglo-American Washington talks in June 1958 but Dulles vetoed this, claiming that if he went it would be necessary to invite the French as well.

On Monday 14 July 1958 Macmillan was at Birch Grove, and recorded that Selwyn Lloyd "almost shouted down the line" about the revolution in Iraq, warning that Jordan and Syria might fall to Nasser.

Selwyn Lloyd had private talks with Churchill that summer to seek his advice.

Selwyn Lloyd had been very sceptical that Macmillan would be able to negotiate a Greek-Turkish agreement over Cyprus.

In December 1958 at a NATO Ministerial Council Selwyn Lloyd negotiated the concept of "sovereign bases" in Cyprus, where the Governor was his old Cambridge contemporary Hugh Foot, with the Greek and Turkish foreign ministers.

Much of the planning for the summit had had to take place at the Middlesex Hospital, where Selwyn Lloyd was having his tonsils out.

Macmillan thanked Selwyn Lloyd for having come up with the idea of a diplomatic cold in response to Khrushchev's diplomatic toothache.

Selwyn Lloyd accompanied Macmillan to Ottawa, where they met John Diefenbaker and Washington, DC in March 1959, where they met Eisenhower and visited the dying Dulles.

Selwyn Lloyd was the leader at the Foreign Ministers' conference in Geneva in June 1959 and kept it going, allowing Eisenhower to issue his invitation to Khrushchev to visit Washington in August.

Whilst the conference had been in progress a false story had appeared in "The Times", fanned by Randolph Churchill and to Macmillan's apparent annoyance, that Selwyn Lloyd was to be moved from the Foreign Office.

Selwyn Lloyd kept a detailed diary between 1 November 1959 and his sacking from the Exchequer in July 1962.

Selwyn Lloyd accompanied Macmillan to a meeting in Paris in December 1959.

Selwyn Lloyd approved of Macmillan's "Winds of Change" speech in February 1960, which predicted the end of rule by Europeans in Africa.

In February 1960 Selwyn Lloyd urged Macmillan, having rebuilt bridges with the Americans, to build bridges with France by accepting de Gaulle's invitation to visit him for a longer stay, a turn of events which Macmillan would use to try to persuade de Gaulle to support British membership of the EEC.

Selwyn Lloyd was Macmillan's third chancellor and asked for, and was given, an assurance that he would remain in place until the next General Election.

Selwyn Lloyd was permitted to remain at Chequers and was allowed to keep 1, Carlton Gardens, normally the Foreign Secretary's London residence.

Selwyn Lloyd wanted growth to increase exports, so as to improve the balance of payments without deflation or devaluing the currency.

Selwyn Lloyd declined to appoint David Eccles, Iain Macleod or Reginald Maudling, any of whom might have been better qualified to be chancellor, as he wanted a loyal "staff officer".

Selwyn Lloyd warned Macmillan that he wanted to be an orthodox chancellor.

On 16 March 1961 Selwyn Lloyd wrote to Macmillan complaining that No 10 was briefing the press than Macmillan was in real charge of economic policy, and indeed policy in other areas.

Selwyn Lloyd arranged government funding for the National Theatre on the South Bank.

Cairncross, who had succeeded Robert Hall as the government's economic advisor, believed that Selwyn Lloyd might have given some kind of private promise not to actually use it.

Selwyn Lloyd announced a Pay Pause on 25 July, until 31 March 1962.

The Pay Pause made Selwyn Lloyd a focus of public unpopularity.

Selwyn Lloyd told them of his plans to set up the National Economic Development Council in imitation of the French Commissariat du Plan, chaired by the Chancellor, and containing a few other ministers, as well as other appointed members who would include leading trade unionists and business leaders, as well perhaps as other economic thinkers.

Selwyn Lloyd proposed setting up a National Economic Development Organisation, whose chair would be drawn from outside the civil service, to advise NEDC.

Thorpe writes that Selwyn Lloyd had Macmillan's backing against a sceptical Cabinet, but Williams writes that Selwyn Lloyd was lukewarm about the NEDC, which was Macmillan's project.

Henry Brooke was appointed to the new position of Chief Secretary to the Treasury in October 1961 so Selwyn Lloyd did not have to spend all his time arguing with Cabinet colleagues about their planned level of expenditure.

Selwyn Lloyd performed poorly in putting across government policy on television.

Macmillan appears to have agreed that the 1962 budget could not be a popular one, but the Cabinet revolt, which Selwyn Lloyd lacked the eloquence to counter, was an embarrassment to Macmillan as well, which added to Macmillan's irritation with Selwyn Lloyd.

Selwyn Lloyd addressed the Cabinet about economic policy on 28 May 1962, stressing that he wanted Britain to achieve low unemployment, low inflation, high growth and a strong pound, and that this could best be achieved by an incomes policy to boost productivity.

Macmillan urged a "guiding light", a Standing Commission on Pay, abolition of Resale Price Maintenance and creation of a Consumers Council; Selwyn Lloyd was sceptical but the other ministers seemed in favour.

That evening Selwyn Lloyd was sacked from the government and returned to the backbenches, after a 45-minute meeting which Macmillan described as "a terribly difficult and emotional scene".

Selwyn Lloyd sacked a third of his Cabinet in a brutal reshuffle which came to be known as the "Night of the Long Knives".

Unless one counts Butler's removal in December 1955, Selwyn Lloyd was the only Chancellor of the postwar era to be sacked outright until Norman Lamont in May 1993.

Selwyn Lloyd was replaced by Reginald Maudling, then seen as a potential future Leader of the Conservative Party, and whose remit was to reflate the economy going into the next General Election due by the end of 1964.

Selwyn Lloyd privately thought Macmillan too obsessed with unemployment, risking higher inflation.

Selwyn Lloyd was cheered to the echo when he reentered the Commons Chamber after his sacking, whereas Macmillan entered in silence from his own party and jeers from the Opposition, and was subjected to public criticism from his predecessor Lord Avon.

Selwyn Lloyd's name had been added to the list at the last minute; he would have preferred to decline, thinking it an honour more suited to alumni of the Arts, but was persuaded by friends to accept.

Selwyn Lloyd left his black Labrador, "Sambo", for whom there was no room in his London flat, behind at Chequers, where he had been living since his divorce.

Selwyn Lloyd did not regard his political career as over, and declined the chairmanship of Martins Bank and other City posts.

Selwyn Lloyd told him that sacking him had been a mistake and that he was looking for a way to bring him back.

Selwyn Lloyd's report, urging the proper provision of paid agents in marginal seats, was published in June 1963 so was overshadowed by the Profumo scandal.

Selwyn Lloyd asked John Profumo whether he had had an affair with Christine Keeler, and passed on his denial to Macmillan, adding his own opinion that he did not see how "Jack" could have had the time.

Selwyn Lloyd was a pivotal figure in whipping up support for Home as a potential successor at the Blackpool Conference.

Selwyn Lloyd helped to dissuade Hailsham, who was initially a candidate for the leadership, from openly opposing Home.

Selwyn Lloyd was called back to the government in 1963 by Alec Douglas-Home.

Selwyn Lloyd refused the Chairmanship of the Party, as he felt he had done what he could and did not want to spend "another winter traipsing around the country".

Selwyn Lloyd helped to discourage Thorneycroft from standing for the Conservative leadership in 1965.

Selwyn Lloyd supported Maudling, who was defeated by Edward Heath.

Selwyn Lloyd visited Rhodesia, whose white minority regime had recently declared unilateral independence from the UK, in February 1966.

On his return to the UK, Selwyn Lloyd was attacked both by the left for having seemed to condone the Smith regime and from the right for not having supported it.

Selwyn Lloyd returned to the backbenches in 1966, at his own request.

In 1969 Selwyn Lloyd was captain of the Royal Liverpool Golf Club in its centenary year.

Selwyn Lloyd continued to serve on many committees and to campaign for the Conservative Party in North-West England.

Selwyn Lloyd was sounded out for, but declined, the Washington Embassy.

Selwyn Lloyd was elected Speaker by 294 votes to 55, the opposition coming from those who thought the election was a stitch-up between the leadership of the two main parties.

Selwyn Lloyd's preference was to let as many members as possible be heard, rather than err on the side of firmness, and he practised what Thorpe describes as "selective deafness" rather than punish every unparliamentary outburst.

Selwyn Lloyd retired as Speaker on 3 February 1976, when he was raised to the peerage and appointed to be the Steward of the Manor of Northstead.

On 8 March 1976 Lloyd was created a life peer as Baron Selwyn-Lloyd, of Wirral in the County of Merseyside.

Selwyn Lloyd became an honorary fellow of his old college, Magdalene.

Selwyn Lloyd did a great deal of charity work and was an active patron and generous host to the nearby Oxford University Conservative Association.

Selwyn Lloyd died at home of a brain tumour on 17 May 1978.

Selwyn Lloyd remained on very friendly terms with Eden, and the two men cooperated throughout the 1960s and 1970s, over Eden's memoirs and information which they gave, often anonymously, to historians about Suez.

Selwyn Lloyd cooperated in secret with Terence Robinson's 1965 book on Suez and with Hugh Thomas' The Suez Affair.

Selwyn Lloyd insisted to Hugh Thomas that Britain's priority had always been a peaceful resolution, especially as Britain had only just pulled out of Egypt prior to Suez.

Richard Crossman told Hugh Thomas that any attempt to impeach Selwyn Lloyd would come to nothing because Selwyn Lloyd was personally popular.

Thomas, who was married to Gladwyn Jebb's daughter, began with little sympathy for Eden and Selwyn Lloyd and came to feel more so, especially as Selwyn Lloyd told him that Suez was an issue that was simply not black and white.

Selwyn Lloyd insisted that this was perfectly legitimate and that this had been the view of Edward Grey and Ernest Bevin.

Nutting's book made Selwyn Lloyd more determined to release his own memoirs in due course.

Selwyn Lloyd wrote two books, "Mr Speaker, sir" and "Suez 1956: a Personal View".

Selwyn Lloyd insisted that there had been no "collusion" as Britain had acted in good faith, and had not instigated the Israeli attack.

Selwyn Lloyd did not live to complete his memoirs, which he had planned to call "A Middle-Class Lawyer from Liverpool" after a famous sneer of Harold Macmillan's at his expense.

Selwyn Lloyd married his secretary Elizabeth Marshall, known as Bae, daughter of Roland Marshall of West Kirby, a family friend.

Selwyn Lloyd wrote to his parents that "the fatal announcement" of their engagement had been made and that he felt like somebody shivering before getting into a cold bath.

Selwyn Lloyd was 46 whilst Bae, a solicitor by profession, was born in 1928, making her 24 years his junior.

Selwyn Lloyd remained on friendly terms with his wife after his divorce, but seldom spoke of her to others, so much so that Ferdinand Mount records that he had no idea how her name was pronounced.

Rab Butler quipped that Selwyn Lloyd's wife had left him "because he got into bed with his sweater on".

The actor Anthony Booth claimed that he had been accosted on the Mall by a clearly drunk Selwyn Lloyd, who made a pass at him under the pretext of asking for a light for his cigarette, a recognised courtship ritual among gay men at the time, inviting him back to Admiralty House.

Ferdinand Mount comments that such behaviour as alleged by Booth would have been out of character, but adds carefully that "It is not clear whether [Selwyn Lloyd] was ever gay in the active sense".

Charles Williams writes that Selwyn Lloyd "had a dubious private life" and that his "private life was the subject of much gossip" but offers no further details.

Selwyn Lloyd would have preferred to have been remembered for his minority report on the Beveridge Report on broadcasting, and for setting up the NEDC.

Selwyn Lloyd was happy to listen to expert advice in a way that Eden would not have been.

The immediate cause for Selwyn Lloyd's dismissal was that Macmillan saw the Treasury as obstructive in drawing up a workable incomes policy, but Dell argues that the real problem was lack of political will, by Macmillan and other ministers, to enforce compulsory wage control.

In Mount's view, just as Suez was a watershed in foreign policy, so Macmillan's sacking of Selwyn Lloyd was a watershed in economic policy, opening the way to the inflation of the 1970s.

Thorpe dismisses this as "wishful thinking", arguing that Selwyn Lloyd was not even in the same league as Joseph Chamberlain or Rab Butler, politicians who were - in different ways - of first-rank importance despite not becoming Prime Minister.