Page "Enoch Powell" Paragraph 32

At a meeting of the 1922 committee on 22 November, Rab Butler made a speech appealing for party unity in the aftermath of the Suez Crisis.

His speech did not go down well and Harold Macmillan, whom Butler had taken along for moral support, addressed them and was a great success.

In Powell's view this was " one of the most horrible things that I remember in politics ... seeing the way in which Harold Macmillan, with all the skill of the old actor-manager, succeeded in false-footing Rab.

The sheer devilry of it verged upon the disgusting ".

After Macmillan's death in 1986 Powell said " Macmillan was a Whig, not a Tory ... he had no use for the Conservative loyalties and affections ; they interfered too much with the Whig's true vocation of detecting trends in events and riding them skilfully so as to preserve the privileges, property and interests of his class ".

However, when Macmillan replaced Eden as Prime Minister, Powell was offered the office of Financial Secretary to the Treasury on 14 January 1957.

This office was the Chancellor of the Exchequer's deputy and the most important job outside the Cabinet.