00-Suez-Blurb-pp 21/9/04 11:32 AM Page 1 British Documents on the End of Empire Project Volumes Published and Forthcoming Series A General Volumes Series B Country Volumes Vol 1 Imperial Policy and Vol 1 Ghana (in two parts, 1992) Colonial Practice Vol 2 Sri Lanka (in two parts, 1997) 1925–1945 (in two parts, 1996) Vol 3 Malaya (in three parts, 1995) Vol 2 The Labour Government and Vol 4 Egypt and the Defence of the the End of Empire 1945–1951 Middle East (in three parts, 1998) (in four parts, 1992) Vol 5 Sudan (in two parts, 1998) Vol 3 The Conservative Government Vol 6 The West Indies (in one part, and the End of Empire 1999) 1951–1957 (in three parts, 1994) Vol 7 Nigeria (in two parts, 2001) Vol 4 The Conservative Government Vol 8 Malaysia (in one part, 2004) and the End of Empire 1957–1964 (in two parts, 2000) Vol 5 East of Suez and the Commonwealth 1964–1971 (in three parts, 2004) ● Series A is complete. Further country volumes in series B are in preparation on Kenya, Central Africa, Southern Africa, the Pacific (Fiji), and the Mediterranean (Cyprus and Malta). The Volume Editors S R ASHTON is Senior Research Fellow and General Editor of the British Documents on the End of Empire Project, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London. With S E Stockwell he edited Imperial Policy and Colonial Practice 1925–1945 (BDEEP, 1996), and with David Killingray The West Indies (BDEEP, 1999). Wm ROGER LOUIS is Kerr Professor of English History and Culture and Distinguished Teaching Professor, University of Texas at Austin, USA, and an Honorary Fellow of St Antony’s, Oxford. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford History of the British Empire (5 volumes, 1998–1999), and with Ronald Hyam he edited The Conservative Government and the End of Empire 1957–1964 (BDEEP, 2000). 01-Suez-Prelims-pp 21/9/04 11:34 AM Page i East of Suez and the Commonwealth 1964–1971 01-Suez-Prelims-pp 21/9/04 11:34 AM Page ii The British Documents on the End of Empire Project gratefully acknowledges the generous assistance of the Arts and Humanities Research Board. The Project has been undertaken under the auspices of the British Academy. 01-Suez-Prelims-pp 21/9/04 11:34 AM Page iii BRITISH DOCUMENTS ON THE END OF EMPIRE General Editor S R Ashton Project Chairman A N Porter Series A Volume 5 East of Suez and the Commonwealth 1964–1971 Editors S R ASHTON Wm ROGER LOUIS Part I EAST OF SUEZ Published for the Institute of Commonwealth Studies in the University of London LONDON: TSO 01-Suez-Prelims-pp 21/9/04 11:34 AM Page iv First published 2004 © The Stationery Office 2004 Introduction © S R Ashton and Wm Roger Louis, 2004 Documents from The National Archives © Crown copyright Crown copyright material used by permission of The National Archives under licence from the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the permission of the Publishers Applications for reproduction of government documents in this work should be addressed to the Copyright Officer, The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU Applications for reproduction of any other part of this work should be addressed to the publisher: The Stationery Office, St Crispins, Duke Street, Norwich, NR3 1PD ISBN 0 11 290582 X British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library If you wish to receive future volumes from the British Documents on the End of Empire project, please write to TSO, Standing Order Department, PO Box 29, St Crispins, Duke Street, NORWICH NR3 1GN, or telephone on 0870 600 5522, quoting classification reference numbers 04 03 017 and 04 03 018 Published by TSO (The Stationery Office) and available from: Online www.tso.co.uk/bookshop Mail, Telephone, Fax & E-mail TSO PO Box 29, Norwich NR3 1GN Telephone orders/General enquiries: 0870 600 5522 Fax orders 0870 600 5533 E-mail: [email protected] Textphone 0870 240 3701 TSO Shops 123 Kingsway, London WC2B 6PQ 020 7242 6393 Fax 020 7242 6394 68–69 Bull Street, Birmingham B4 6AD 0121 236 9696 Fax 0121 236 9699 9–21 Princess Street, Manchester M60 8AS 0161 834 7201 Fax 0161 833 0634 16 Arthur Street, Belfast BT1 4GD 028 9023 8451 Fax 028 9023 5401 18–19 High Street, Cardiff CF10 1PT 029 2039 5548 Fax 029 2038 4347 71 Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH3 9AZ 0870 606 5566 Fax 0870 606 5588 TSO Accredited Agents (see Yellow Pages) and through good booksellers Printed in the UK by the Stationery Office, London ID0000 12/04 C5 01-Suez-Prelims-pp 21/9/04 11:34 AM Page v Contents page Foreword vii East of Suez and the Commonwealth 1964–1971: Schedule of contents xv Abbreviations: parts I–III xvii Principal holders of offices 1964–1971 xxiii Introduction xxix Notes to Introduction cxxv Summary of documents: part I cxxxv Documents: part I (nos 1–137) 1 Chapter 1 The defence withdrawal from East of Suez 1 Chapter 2 Aden and South Arabia 151 Chapter 3 South-East Asia 289 Chapter 4 Persian Gulf 395 Index: parts I–III 465 MAPS (1) Aden & Protectorate of South Arabia (Sept 1965, FCO 8/186) 154–155 (2) Malaysia and its neighbours 296 (3) Persian Gulf 406 01-Suez-Prelims-pp 21/9/04 11:34 AM Page vi 01-Suez-Prelims-pp 21/9/04 11:34 AM Page vii vii Foreword The main purpose of the British Documents on the End of Empire Project (BDEEP) is to publish documents from British official archives on the ending of colonial and associated rule and on the context in which this took place. In 1945, aside from the countries of present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Burma, Britain had over fifty formal dependencies; by the end of 1965 the total had been almost halved and by 1985 only a handful remained. The ending of Britain’s position in these formal dependencies was paralleled by changes in relations with states in an informal empire. The end of empire in the period at least since 1945 involved a change also in the empire as something that was more than the sum of its parts and as such formed an integral part of Britain’s domestic affairs and international relations. In publishing official British documents on the end of empire this project is, to a degree, the successor to the two earlier series of published documents concerning the end of British rule in India and Burma which were edited by Professors Mansergh and Tinker respectively. The successful completion of The transfer of power and The struggle for independence,1 both of which were based on British records, emphasised the need for similar published collections of documents important to the history of the final stages of Britain’s association with other dependencies in Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, South-East Asia and the Pacific. These documents are crucial research tools for scholars both from sovereign independent states which emerged from colonial rule as well as those from Britain itself. BDEEP is also set in the much wider context of the efforts made by successive British governments to locate Britain’s position in an international order. Here the empire, both in its formal and informal senses, is viewed as an instrument of the domestic, foreign and defence policy of successive British governments. The project is therefore concerned with the ending of colonial rule in individual territories as seen from the British side at one level, and the broader political, economic and strategic considerations involved in that at another. Despite the similarities, however, BDEEP differs in significant ways from its predecessors in terms both of presentation and content. The project is of greater magnitude than that undertaken by Professor Mansergh for India. Four major differences can be identified. First, the ending of colonial rule within a dependent empire took place over a much longer period of time, extending into the final years of the twentieth century while having its roots in the Second World War and before. Secondly, the empire consisted of a large number of territories, varying in area, population, wealth and in many other ways, each with its own individual problems but often with their futures linked to those of neighbouring territories and the 1 Nicholas Mansergh el al, eds, Constitutional relations between Britain and India: the transfer of power 1942-47 12 vols (London, 1970-1983); Hugh Tinker, ed, Constitutional relations between Britain and Burma: the struggle for independence 1944-1948 2 vols (London, 1983-1984). 01-Suez-Prelims-pp 21/9/04 11:34 AM Page viii viii FOREWORD growing complexity surrounding the colonial empire. Thirdly, while for India the documentary record for certain matters of high policy could be encapsulated within a relatively straightforward ‘country’ study, in the case of the colonial empire the documentary record is more diffuse because of the plethora of territories and their scattered location. Finally, the documents relating to the ending of colonial rule are not conveniently located within one leading department of state but rather are to be found in several of them. As the purpose of the project is to publish documents relating to the end of empire from the extensive range and quantity of official British records, private collections and other categories of non-official material are not regarded as principal documentary sources.