1966 Defence White Paper facts for kids
The 1966 Defence White Paper was an important plan for how the United Kingdom would protect itself. It was created by the Labour government, led by Prime Minister Harold Wilson. The person in charge of this plan was Denis Healey, who was the Secretary of State for Defence.
This plan focused on helping NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) in Europe. It also said that the UK would only fight big wars if it worked with its friends and allies. At first, the plan said the UK would keep its military in places like Singapore and Malaysia.
But soon, the UK faced money problems, and the value of its currency (the pound sterling) went down. Because of this, in 1967 and 1968, the government made new announcements. They decided to bring British forces home from areas East of Suez (places like the Middle East and Asia). This was a huge change for Britain's role in the world, marking the end of its large global military presence.
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What the Plan Changed
The government decided to spend much less money on defence. This was because the country was having economic problems and needed to cut down on public spending.
Cutting Big Projects
The plan led to stopping several big military projects. For example, they cancelled a new aircraft carrier called the CVA-01. They also cancelled most of the new Type 82 destroyer warships. The idea was to slowly stop using large aircraft carriers.
Instead, the government decided to invest in new aircraft. These included the Harrier, a new Anglo-French plane (which later became the Panavia Tornado), and the American F-111 bomber. This happened after an earlier British plane, the TSR-2, was cancelled.
Bringing Troops Home
To focus more on supporting NATO in Europe, the plan also suggested bringing British troops home from Aden. Later, in 1967, they sped up the withdrawal of forces from Singapore, Malaysia, Malta, Libya, and the Persian Gulf. This went against their earlier promise to keep a military role East of Suez. In 1968, they even cancelled the order for the F-111 planes.
Military Rivalry and Money Decisions
In the early 1960s, the Royal Navy wanted to build new aircraft carriers to replace their older ones. However, the Royal Air Force (RAF) saw this as a chance to get more money for their own projects.
The RAF looked at the history of both Navy aircraft carriers and their own tactical bombers. They compared them and argued that bombers were better. They then showed this information to the government's money department, the Treasury. The RAF suggested their TSR-2 strike aircraft instead of the Navy's new carriers.
One expert, Professor Andrew Lambert, said that the 1966 Defence White Paper showed what happens when one group knows your history better than you do. The RAF's projects did much better in the review than the Royal Navy's.
How the Plan Was Carried Out
All British forces left Aden by the end of November 1967, even though there was still fighting there. After also leaving the Persian Gulf, the only UK military places in the Middle East by the mid-1970s were in Oman. The last of these, RAF bases at Salalah and on Masirah Island, closed in 1976.
In the Far East, most British forces left Singapore after a big ceremony in October 1971. This ceremony included 20 ships, like the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes. Australia and New Zealand helped take over security for Singapore and Malaysia as part of the Five Power Defence Arrangements, which are still active today. The main British military command in the Far East ended on October 31, 1971, though a smaller British presence stayed until 1976. British forces also remained in Hong Kong and Brunei.
Both the F-111 plane order and the Anglo-French AFVG bomber project were later cancelled. However, the AFVG idea eventually became the Panavia Tornado, which was delivered in 1979 and was still used by the RAF in 2018. Only one Type 82 Destroyer, HMS Bristol, was built. It was used to test new technologies. No new large aircraft carriers were built, but the Navy continued to use planes from smaller Invincible-class aircraft carriers built in the 1970s.
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