Macmillan and the "Wind of Change" 1957–1963

Harold Macmillan's premiership (January 1957–October 1963) saw Britain grapple with decolonisation, the first application to join the European Economic Community, rising affluence, and the social changes that would transform British culture. Macmillan is remembered for his patrician style, his famous declaration that Britons had "never had it so good," and his humiliating departure amid the Profumo scandal.

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Macmillan's Rise to Power

Macmillan's appointment was not inevitable. When Eden resigned in January 1957, many expected R.A. Butler to succeed him. However, the party's informal consultation process — Lord Salisbury canvassed Cabinet members, famously asking each "Is it Wab or Hawold?" (he could not pronounce his Rs) — produced a majority for Macmillan. The Queen appointed Macmillan on 10 January 1957.

Key Fact	Detail
Background	Eton, Oxford, Grenadier Guards (wounded three times in WWI), married Lady Dorothy Cavendish (daughter of the Duke of Devonshire)
Publishing	Founded the family firm Macmillan Publishers — he was an intellectual as well as a politician
Pre-war politics	MP from 1924; critic of appeasement; sympathetic to economic planning (his 1938 book The Middle Way advocated a mixed economy)
Housing success	His achievement of 300,000 houses as Housing Minister (1951–54) established his administrative reputation

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The Affluent Society

"You've Never Had It So Good"

On 20 July 1957, Macmillan told a Conservative rally in Bedford: "Let us be frank about it — most of our people have never had it so good." The phrase became his trademark — and, eventually, a weapon used against him.

The 1950s and early 1960s saw genuine rises in living standards:

Indicator	Data
Real wages	Rose approximately 20% between 1951 and 1959
Consumer goods	Television ownership rose from 4% of households in 1950 to 75% by 1961; car ownership doubled between 1951 and 1961 (from approximately 2.5 million to 5.5 million)
Unemployment	Remained below 2.5% throughout the 1950s
Housing	Significant expansion of both council housing and private home ownership
Hire purchase	Credit-fuelled consumption transformed retail — washing machines, refrigerators, and televisions became mass-market goods

Historiographical Debate: David Kynaston (Modernity Britain, 2013–14) has provided the most richly detailed portrait of everyday life in this period, documenting both the genuine improvements and the persistent inequalities (regional disparities, the condition of the industrial working class, racial discrimination faced by Commonwealth immigrants). Dominic Sandbrook (Never Had It So Good, 2005) argues that the affluence was real but unevenly distributed, and that the social changes of the period were evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

The 1959 General Election

Macmillan led the Conservatives to their greatest post-war victory on 8 October 1959, increasing their majority from 60 to 100 seats. The Conservatives won 49.4% of the vote. The campaign slogan "Life's better under the Conservatives — don't let Labour ruin it" captured the mood of affluent optimism.

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Decolonisation: The "Wind of Change"

The Speech

On 3 February 1960, Macmillan addressed the South African Parliament in Cape Town:

"The wind of change is blowing through this continent. Whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact."

The speech acknowledged that African independence was inevitable and signalled that Britain would not resist decolonisation. It caused fury among white South Africans and the Conservative right.

The Process of Decolonisation

Year	Territory	Notes
1957	Ghana (Gold Coast)	First sub-Saharan African colony to gain independence; Kwame Nkrumah became PM
1960	Nigeria, British Somaliland, Cyprus	Nigeria was Britain's most populous African colony
1961	Sierra Leone, Tanganyika, Kuwait, South Africa left the Commonwealth	South Africa withdrew over criticism of apartheid
1962	Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda	Caribbean and East African decolonisation
1963	Kenya, Zanzibar, Malaysia, Sarawak, Sabah	Kenyan independence ended a brutal counter-insurgency against the Mau Mau