most of our people have never had it so good

Today is the twentieth anniversary of the death of the former Conservative Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan. The man who saw action in the First World War went on to show strong opposition to the appeasement of Hitler in the 1930s. He was Prime Minister of this country from 1957 until 1963. His political career spanned a difficult time in the history of this country, as Britain absorbed the reality of a fading Empire. He often handled this well such as with his “Winds of Change” speech, but he also occasionally supported misguided attempts to impose ‘Imperial’ will, most notably during the Suez crisis. Over that affair Harold Wilson infamously described him as ‘First in, First out’. Throughout his political life, however, his sense of duty and service to his country was never in doubt.