The Attlee Government, the Imperial Preference System and the Creation of the Gatt

English Historical Review

Volumn 118, Issue 478, 2003, Pages 912-939

  Toye, Richard ^a  

^a HOMERTON COLLEGE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 85050712866     PISSN: 00138266     EISSN: 14774534     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/ehr/118.478.912     Document Type: Article

References (164)

1. P[ublic] R[ecord] O[ffice] BT 11/3647, 'Note by President [of the Board of Trade]', 22 September 1947.
2. See Alan Bullock, Ernest Bevin: Foreign Secretary 1945-1951 (London, 1983), p. 462.
3. For a compelling account of Labour's attitude to imperialism during this period, see D. K. Fieldhouse, 'The Labour Governments and the Empire-Commonwealth', in Ritchie Ovendale (ed.), The Foreign Policy of the British Labour Governments 1945-1951 (Leicester, 1984), pp. 83-120.
4. For general accounts, see Peter Hennessy, Never Again: Britain 1945-51 (London 1992);
5. Kenneth O. Morgan, Labour in Power, 1945-51 (Oxford, 1984);
6. Henry Pelling, The Labour governments, 1945-51 (London, 1984).
7. Alec Cairncross, Years of Recovery: British economic policy, 1945-51 (London, 1985);
8. G. D. N. Worswick and P. H. Ady, The British Economy 1945-1950 (Oxford, 1952);
9. J. C. R. Dow, The Management of the British Economy 1945-60 (Cambridge, 1964);
10. Jim Tomlinson, Democratic Socialism and economic policy: The Attlee years 1945-51 (Cambridge, 1999).
11. Teddy Brett, Steve Gilliatt and Andrew Pople, 'Planned trade, Labour party policy and US intervention: the successes and failures of post-war reconstruction', History Workshop Journal xiii (Spring 1982), 130-42
12. Peter Burnham, The Political Economy of Postwar Reconstruction (Basingstoke and London, 1990).
13. Richard N. Gardner, Sterling-Dollar Diplomacy in Current Perspective: The Origins And Prospects of Our International Order (New York, 1980), pp. 354-67.
14. See James N. Miller and Richard Toye, 'Personality, Ideology and Interest in the Origins of the Modern World Trading System: The Case of Stafford Cripps and Will Clayton', in Frank Ninkovich et al. (ed.), Global America, forthcoming.
15. Thomas W. Zeiler, Free Trade Free World: The Advent of GATT (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1999).
16. Marguerite Dupree (ed.), Lancashire and Whitehall: The Diary of Raymond Streat Volume Two: 1939-57, (Manchester, 1987), p. 316 (entry for 8 Jan. 1946).
17. Richard Toye, The Labour Party and the Planned Economy, 1931-1951 (London, 2003), Chapter 7.
18. This article therefore lends support to the critique of hegemonic stability theory put forward by Peter Burnham in The Political Economy of Postwar Reconstruction, and in 'Re-evaluating the Washington Loan Agreement: a revisionist view of the limits of postwar American power', Review of International Studies xviii (1992), 241-59.
19. See James N. Miller, 'The Pursuit of A Talking Shop: Political Origins of American Multilateralism, 1934-1945', paper presented to the 25th Meeting of the Eastern Economics Association, March, 1999;
20. Miller, 'Wartime Origins of Multilateralism, 1939-1945', unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cambridge, 2003;
21. D. E. Moggridge, Maynard Keynes: An Economist's Biography (London, 1992), pp. 667-8.
22. Susan Howson (ed.), The Collected Papers of James Meade Volume III: International Economics (London, 1988), pp. 27-35.
23. Miller, 'Wartime Origins of Multilateralism'.
24. See Toye, Labour Party, Chapter 7.
25. PRO CAB 127/91, Stafford Cripps to Richard Law, 30 Dec. 1943.
26. Susan Howson and Donald Moggridge (eds), The Collected Papers of James Meade Volume IV: The Cabinet Office Diary 1944-46 (London, 1990), p. 106 (entry for 8 July 1945).
27. Alan Palmer, Dictionary of the British Empire and Commonwealth (London, 1996), pp. vii-viii, 26, 211, 271, 355-6.
28. See Cripps's comments on this subject: [United States] N[ational] Archives], RG 43 'Memorandum of Conversation: United States and United Kingdom Tariff Offers', 12 July 1947, International] T[rade] F[iles], Box 83, and PRO BT11/3646, draft British record of meeting, 12 July 1947. See also Gardner, Sterling-Dollar Diplomacy, pp. 154-5.
29. See Tim Rooth, 'Britain's Other Dollar Problem: Economic Relations with Canada, 1945-50', Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, xxvii, no. 1 (1999), 81-108.
30. Ross M. Robertson, History of the American Economy (3rd edn, New York, 1973), pp. 663-4.
31. Walter Johnson and Carol Evans (ed.), The Papers of Adlai E. Stevenson Volume II: Washington to Springfield 1941-1948 (Boston, 1973), p. 258 (diary entry for 5-10 Sept. 1945).
32. Susan Howson and Donald Moggridge (ed.), The Wartime Diaries of Lionel Robbins and James Meade, 1943-45 (Basingstoke, 1990), p. 226 (entry for 2 Oct. 1945).
33. See Roger Bullen and M. E. Pelly (ed.), Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series I, Volume III (London, 1986), p. 200;
34. Cmnd. (government White Paper) 6709, 'Proposals for Consideration by an International Conference on Trade and Employment', 6 Dec. 1945.
35. Foreign Relations of the United States (hereafter FRUS) 1945, VI, p. 152.
36. PRO BT 11/2800, Telegram from Board of Trade to Washington, 22 Oct. 1945.
37. Parliamentary Debates House of Commons 5th series vol. 416, 6 Dec. 1945, col. 2668.
38. PRO BT 11/2809, Telegram NABOB 308 J S M Washington to Cabinet Office (from Percivale Liesching) 8 Nov. 1945.
39. See Francine McKenzie, 'Renegotiating a Special Relationship: The Commonwealth and Anglo-American Economic Discussions, September-December 1945', The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, xxvi, no. 3, (1998), 71-93, at 72-3.
40. Although it has not proved possible to locate a copy of this statement in either the US National Archives or the British Public Record Office, in July 1947 Clayton reminded the British in detail of what had occurred. They did not dissent from the account that he gave. NA RG 43 'Memorandum of Conversation: United States and United Kingdom Tariff Offers (continued)', 14 July 1947, ITF Box 83.
41. PRO T247/2, Stafford Cripps, 'Commercial Policy and the Lend Lease Negotiations at Washington' 13 Sept. 1945.
42. PRO CAB 128/4 CM(45)57th 29 Nov. 1945 (confidential annex);
43. R. W. B. Clarke diary, 6 Mar. 1946, R. W. B. Clarke papers 25, Churchill College, Cambridge. See also Dupree, Streat Diary, p. 316 (entry for 8 Jan. 1946).
44. PRO FO 371/62887, Telegram from Cripps to Bevin, 21 March 1947.
45. Gardner, Sterling-Dollar Diplomacy, pp. 351-4.
46. Cripps to Attlee, 8 Mar. 1947, Austin Robinson papers, Churchill College, Cambridge, ADDNL 7 ii.
47. See Toye, Labour Party, ch. 7.
48. For an account of his life, see Gregory A. Fossedal, Our Finest Hour: Will Clayton, the Marshall Plan, and the Triumph of Democracy (Stanford, CA, 1993).
49. Judith Goldstein, 'Creating the GATT Rules: Politics, Institutions, and American Policy', in John Gerard Ruggie (ed.), Multilateralism Matters: The Theory and Praxis of an Institutional Form (New York, 1993), pp. 201-232, at p. 202.
50. Speech by Cripps at the opening of the Geneva conference, 11 Apr. 1947, Robinson Papers 6/6/3.
51. NA RG 59 560.AL/4-1547, Telegram from State Department to US Delegation in Geneva, Apr. 1947.
52. Items of particular interest in the British press can be found in The Spectator, n Apr. 1947, Tribune, 11 Apr. 1947, and the Manchester Guardian, 12 Apr. 1947.
53. PRO FO 371/62291 Telegram from UK delegation in Geneva to the Foreign Office, 12 Apr. 1947.
54. PRO BT 11/3649, Telegram from Board of Trade to UK delegation in Geneva (Harold Wilson to J. C. Helmore), 16 Apr. 1947.
55. Oral history interview with Winthrop G. Brown, p. 22, Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Missouri.
56. NA RG 59 560.AL/5/647, Telegram from US delegation in Geneva to State Department, 6 May 1947.
57. The Americans, at the start of the talks, discerned weaknesses in the 'extremely badly organized' UK delegation. They noted that little discretion had been given to the British negotiating teams, and that there seemed to have been little, if any, coordination between the earlier preparation of requests and the preparation of offers. NA RG 43 'Minutes of Delegation Meeting', 5 May 1947, ITF Box 133.
58. Zeiler, Free Trade Free World, p. 100.
59. NA RG 43, 'Minutes of delegation meeting', 29 April 1947, ITF Box 133.
60. FRUS194J, I, p. 926.
61. PRO BT11/2828 OEP (47) 29, Stafford Cripps, 'The Trade Negotiations at Geneva', 22 July 1947.
62. William L. Clayton, 'GATT, the Marshall Plan, and OECD', Political Science Quarterly lxxviii (1963), 493-503, at 493-4.
63. FRUS 1947, I, p. 916.
64. Clayton, 'GATT, The Marshall Plan, and OECD', 495. See also Zeiler, Free Trade Free World, pp. 101-2.
65. FRUS 1947, I, pp. 937-941.
66. J. R. C. Helmore to Clayton 14 May 1947, Robinson Papers 6/6/2;
67. FRUS 1947, I, pp. 945-7.
68. NA RG 59 560.AL/6-1247, Telegram from US Embassy in London to Secretary of State, 12 June 1947.
69. Robin Barrington-Ward diary, 23 June 1947, copy in Stafford Cripps Papers, Nuffield College, Oxford.
70. Gardner, Sterling-Dollar Diplomacy, pp. 332-6.
71. PRO BTn/3649 Telegram from Foreign Office to UK Delegation in Geneva (No. 838 FO), 28 June 1947.
72. NA RG 43 Clair Wilcox to Paul Nitze, 12 July 1947, ITF Box 149.
73. FRUS1947 Vol. I, pp. 953-4.
74. PRO FO 371/62305, TN(P)(SPECIAL)(CHARTER)(47)13, 'Non-Discrimination: Brief for the President of the Board of Trade', 10 July 1947.
75. NA RG 43, Clair Wilcox to Paul Nitze, 12 July 1947, ITF Box 149, and minutes of US delegation at Geneva, 10 July 1947, ITF Box 133.
76. NA RG 43, Minutes of US delegation at Geneva, 14 July 1947, ITF Box 133.
77. The US record of this section of the meeting is NA RG 43 'Memorandum of Conversation: United States and United Kingdom Tariff Offers', 12 July 1947, ITF Box 83. The draft British record, dated 12 July 1947, can be found in PRO BT 11/3646.
78. PRO BT 11/3646, Telegram from UK Delegation in Geneva to the Foreign Office, 16 July 1947 (telegram c: 'Anglo American Tariff Negotiations') and NA RG 43, minutes of meeting of US delegation, 14 July 1947, ITF Box 133.
79. PRO FO 371/62313, Telegram from Washington to the Foreign Office, 23 August 1947.
80. FRUS1947, I, p. 965.
81. NA RG 43, Minutes of US delegation at Geneva, 15 July 1947, ITF Box 133;
82. see also NA RG 43 Postcript dated 14 July 1947, on letter from Clair Wilcox to Paul Nitze, 12 July 1947, ITF Box. 149.
83. FRUS1947, I, p. 965.
84. NA RG 43, 'Memorandum of Conversation: United States and United Kingdom Tariff Offers (continued)', 14 July 1947, ITF Box 83.
85. NA RG 43, Minutes of US delegation at Geneva, 15 July 1947, ITF Box 133.
86. PRO BT11/2828 OEP (47) 29, Stafford Cripps, 'The Trade Negotiations at Geneva', 22 July 1947;
87. see also PRO BT 11/3646, Telegram from UK Delegation in Geneva to the Foreign Office, 16 July 1947 (telegram c: 'Anglo American Tariff Negotiations').
88. NA RG 43, 'Minutes of General Staff Meeting', 30 July 1947, ITF Box 133.
89. PRO FO 371/62305 Telegram from UK delegation in Geneva to Foreign Office, 14 July 1947;
90. FRUS 1947, I, p. 965;
91. NA RG 59 560.AL/7-1847, Telegram from US delegation in Geneva to Secretary of State, 18 July 1947.
92. Ben Pimlott, Hugh Dalton (London, 1985), pp. 482-3.
93. PRO CAB 21/2202, Telegram from FO to Washington embassy, 28 July 1947.
94. NA RG 59 560.AL/8-147, Geneva to Secretary of State (for Robert Lovett from Clayton), 1 Aug. 1947.
95. FRUS 1947, I, pp. 967-973.
96. FRUS1947, I, pp. 972-4;
97. Zeiler, Free Trade Free World, pp. 102-3.
98. FRUS 1947, I, pp. 974-6.
99. NA RG 59 560.AL/8-1147, Telegram from Geneva to Secretary of State (for Lovett from Clayton), 11 Aug. 1947.
100. Harold Wilson, 'Paying Our Way Abroad', in Douglas Jay et al., The Road to Recovery: Fabian Society Lectures given in the autumn of 194/ (London, 1948), pp. 89-98 at p. 97.
101. NA RG 43, 'Memorandum of Conversation: Preferences the United Kingdom enjoys in Commonwealth and Empire countries', 20 August 1947.
102. PRO CAB 129/20 CP(47)245, Cripps, 'Trade Negotiations in Geneva: U.S. Requests on Tariffs and Preferences', 27 Aug. 1947, Annex C. See also FRUS1947, I, pp. 977-9.
103. PRO CAB 129/20 CP(47)245, Cripps, 'Trade Negotiations in Geneva', 27 Aug. 1947, Annex F.
104. NA RG 43, 'Memorandum of Conversation: Preferences the United Kingdom enjoys in Commonwealth and Empire countries', 20 Aug. 1947;
105. PRO CAB 129/20 CP(47)245, Cripps, 'Trade Negotiations in Geneva', 27 Aug. 1947, Annex C.
106. PRO CAB 129/20 CP(47)245, Cripps, 'Trade Negotiations in Geneva', 27 Aug. 1947.
107. See PRO FO 371/62313 Telegram from Washington to the Foreign Office, 23 Aug. 1947. It is, of course, possible that this very warning, or other informal indications, stiffened Cripps in his resolve to offer concessions, given that his recommendations were not circulated to the Cabinet until four days after it was received.
108. Gardner, Sterling-Dollar Diplomacy, pp. 361-7;
109. Report of the Second Session of the Preparatory Committee of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment (document E/PC/T/186), WTO archive, Geneva. See also John Toye and Richard Toye, Intellectual History of the United Nations Vol. 2 (Bloomington, Indiana, forthcoming), ch. 1.
110. Speech by Wilson at the second session of the preparatory committee of the UN conference on trade and employment, 6th meeting, 23 August 1947, WTO archive, Geneva;
111. Gardner, Sterling-Dollar Diplomacy, p. 357.
112. John Jewkes, Ordeal By Planning (London, 1948), p. 231.
113. Dupree, Streat Diary, p. 414 (entry for 8 Oct. 1947).
114. NA RG 59, Telegram from US embassy in London to Secretary of State, 18 Sept. 1947, giving details of a speech by Cripps the previous day.
115. Dupree, StreatDiary, p. 414 (entry for 8 Oct. 1947).
116. Alec Cairncross (ed.), The Robert Hall Diaries, 1947-1953 (London, 1989), p. 5 (entry for 15 Sept. 1947).
117. Harold Wilson, Post-War Economic Policies in Britain (London, 1957), pp. 4-5.
118. PRO FO 371/62314 M, Minute by F. W. Marten, 4 Sept. 1947. See also PRO BT 64/2346 Arthur G. Bottomley to Cripps, 1 Sept. 1947.
119. PRO BT 64/2346, Cripps to Attlee, 4 Sept. 1947.
120. Trades Union Congress Annual Report, 1947, p. 421;
121. PRO FO 800/444, Bevin to Attlee, 5 Sept. 1947. See also PRO FO 800/444 P.K. 47/128, Minute from Bevin to Attlee (copied to Dalton, Cripps and others), 16 Sept. 1947.
122. Alan S. Milward, The Reconstruction of Western Europe, 1945-51 (London, 1984), pp. 243-4.
123. FRUS1947, I, pp. 980-1.
124. FRUS 1947, I, pp. 982;
125. Documents on Canadian External Relations, 13, 1947, p. 1171.
126. Wilson T. M. Beale, Jr. to 'Yogsie', 17 Sept. 1947, Wilson T. M. Beale, Jr. Papers, Truman Library. I am grateful to James N. Miller for this reference.
127. FRUS 1947 Vol. I, pp. 983-93. See also PRO BT 64/2346 Telegram from Foreign Office to UK delegation in Geneva, 27 Sept. 1947.
128. PRO BT 11/3647, 'American Tariff discussions: Note of a meeting in the President [of the Board of Trade]'s Room at 9.30 a.m. on Friday, September 19th [1947]'.
129. NA RG 43, 'Memorandum of Conversation: United States and United Kingdom Offers', 19 Sept. 1947, ITF Box 83;
130. PRO BT 64/2346 TN(P)(SPECIAL)93, 'Trade Negotiations Committee: Note by the Secretariat: Annex: Trade Negotiations with USA: Note of Meeting between Mr. Clayton and the President of the Board of Trade [on 19 September 1947]';
131. FRUS1947, I, pp. 993-5;
132. PRO BT 64/2346 TN(P)(SPECIAL)(47)92, 'US attack on Preferences: Note by the Secretariat: Annex IV: Memorandum handed to Sir Stafford Cripps by Mr. Clayton [dated 19 September 1947]', 22 Sept. 1947;
133. PRO FO 371/62317, Helmore to C. A. P. Brown, enclosing notes re. Clayton's arguments, 20 Sept. 1947: Note (a) 'The 1945 Undertakings'.
134. Bullock, Ernest Bevin: Foreign Secretary, p. 462.
135. PRO BT 64/2346 Telegram from Foreign Office to UK delegation in Geneva, 27 Sept. 1947.
136. For the American account of the meeting - which does not record these words of Bevin on the subject of the Marshall Plan - see FRUS 1947, I, pp. 995-6.
137. PRO CAB 129/21 CP(47)266, Cripps, 'The Tariff Negotiations at Geneva', 24 Sept. 1947;
138. PRO CAB 128/10 CM(47)77th, 25 Sept. 1947;
139. FRUS1947, I, pp. 998-1003.
140. PRO FO 371/62318 UE 9021/37/G 'Conversation With the United States Ambassador: Mr. Bevin to Lord Inverchapel', 25 Sept. 1947.
141. PRO FO 371/62318, Edmund Hall-Patch, 'Tariffs and Preferences', 26 Sept. 1947.
142. Brown oral history, p. 27.
143. PRO FO 371 62319 Telegram from UK Delegation Geneva (Helmore) to Foreign Office, 2 Oct. 1947.
144. This meant that the proportion of synthetic rubber which, under US rules, had to be combined with natural rubber would be reduced. This would boost sales of natural rubber from Britain's colonial empire. FRUS 1947, I, pp. 1006-7;
145. PRO CAB 129/21 CP(47)278, Harold Wilson, 'Trade Negotiations in Geneva: Tariff Discussions with the USA', 6 Oct. 1947.
146. PRO BT 11/3648, TN(P)(47)149th Meeting: Minutes of the 149th meeting of the UK delegation held in two parts on 10 and 11 Oct. 1947;
147. PRO BT 11/3648 Helmore to Wilson, 'Tariffs and Preferences', 7 Oct. 1947;
148. PRO FO 800/861, Bevin's engagement diary for 1947 (entry for 8 Oct.).
149. Zeiler, Free Trade Free World, p. 119.
150. FRUS194J, I, p. 1010;
151. PRO BT 11/3648, Telegram from Foreign Office to UK delegation in Geneva, 11 Oct. 1947;
152. NA RG 59 560.AL/10-1047, 'Memorandum of Conversation [between Marshall and Inverchapel]: Geneva Trade Negotiations', 10 Oct. 1947.
153. PRO FO 371/62321, Memo by Hall-Patch (to Bevin) on imperial preference, 7 Oct. 1947.
154. PRO CAB 129/21 CP(47)278 Harold Wilson, 'Trade Negotiations in Geneva: Tariff Discussions with the USA', 6 Oct. 1947.
155. Gardner, Sterling-Dollar Diplomacy, p. 361.
156. Antony Gilpin memoirs, 'Chapter 10: Geneva', United Nations Career Records Papers MS Eng.4676 f. 14, Bodleian Library, Oxford.
157. Dupree, Streat Diary, pp. 413-4 (entry for 8 Oct. 1947).
158. Gardner, Sterling-Dollar Diplomacy, p. 360.
159. Documents on Canadian External Relations, 13, 1947, p. 1192.
160. Toye, Labour Party, Chapter 7.
161. For a review of policy-conditioned lending by the World Bank to developing countries, see Paul Mosley, Jane Harrigan and John Toye, Aid and Power: The World Bank and Policy-Conditioned Lending, 2 volumes, (2nd edn, Routledge, 1985).
162. David Dollar and Jakob Svensson, 'What Explains the Success or Failure of Structural Adjustment Programmes?', Economic Journal, cx (2000), 894-917. See also Burnham, 'Re-evaluating the Washington Loan Agreement', 258.
163. G. John Ikenberry, 'Creating Yesterday's New World Order: Keynesian "New Thinking" and the Anglo-American Postwar Settlement', in Judith Goldstein and Robert O. Keohane (ed.), Ideas and Foreign Policy: Beliefs, Institutions, and Political Change (Ithaca and London, 1993), pp. 57-86, at p. 61.
164. Burnham, 'Re-evaluating the Washington Loan Agreement', pp. 258-9.