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As the Queen Mary slipped into Southampton last week, British reporters begged Winston Churchill, "Could you give us one of your famous sentences? 'Whatever the outlook is, it's getting better' or something like that? Everybody is waiting for it."
Churchill's bulldog features broke into a grin. "I hadn't prepared any famous sentence," he replied, "but you may be quite sure that His Majesty's Government will do their duty, irrespective of whether what they do is popular."
This week in the House of Commons, His Majesty's Government was doing its duty and testing its popularity. Winston Churchill's most trusted lieutenant, Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, faced the fire of M.P.s eager to know where Britain now stands in the world, how deeply it is committed, how ready to face the risks. Even in a week when the government confronted its people with the worst economic news in years (see above), such questions rained down upon the Tories. The economic news—of cuts and shortages and redoubled austerity—was of personal concern to every Briton, but, to this nation of 50 million people who once ruled the waves and still reckon themselves mighty, so were the decisions on foreign policy.
The Loyal Opposition had some sharp questions to ask of Churchill and Eden. The questions grew partly out of a unique new transatlantic fact: that Winston Churchill, after his talks with President Truman, should be in the position of pleading his case to two different parliaments—Congress in Washington, the House of Commons in London—each wanting a different set of assurances. Just what had Churchill promised the Americans? That Britain stands ready to join the U.S. in bombing and blockading Communist China if the truce talks fail? To his listeners in London, Churchill explained his words in Washington.
"I thought it better," said he, "to speak in general terms of the action we should take in the event of a breach of the truce, and I used the words 'prompt, resolute and effective.' I do not believe they were bad words to use. Certainly . . . they are better than 'tardy, timid and fatuous.'" He had made, he added, to the obvious relief of his listeners, "no final commitment."
Ready to March. One critical sector had eased. Egypt's flare-up had preoccupied Churchill on his homeward voyage; messages in cipher raced back & forth between the Queen Mary and Downing Street. Eden, who had flown back from Washington, worked late and long in emergency conferences. So did the War Office. Britain's strategic reserves on Cyprus were readied for transfer to the Canal Zone; the Mediterranean Fleet was alerted. If King Farouk had not put down the revolt, the British were prepared to move on Egypt. After Farouk's action, Eden turned to conciliation, said Britain was ready to satisfy Egypt's "legitimate national aspirations" so long as Britain's strategic interests were safeguarded. The British lion might be aging, but it could still roar.