ABSTRACT
One of the cherished illusions of apologists for the Empire/ Commonwealth was that all British citizens-irrespective of their place of residence, colour or religion-enjoyed full and unimpeded rights to enter and settle in the United Kingdom. Foreigners, on the other hand, were subject to the restrictions stemming originally from the Aliens Act of 1905. British politicians and civil servants, and most writers on Commonwealth affairs, continued throughout the 1940s and 1950s to boast that Britain alone of the white countries of the Empire/ Commonwealth managed to hold out against discriminatory practices and maintain freedom of entry to the United Kingdom for all British subjects, irrespective of race. A classic,
if tear-stained, statement of the official position was made by Henry Hopkinson, the Minister of State at the Colonial Office, in a House of Commons debate in 1954:
As the law stands, any British subject from the colonies is free to enter this country at any time as long as he can produce satisfactory evidence of his British status. This is not something we want to tamper with lightly…. We still take pride in the fact that a man can say civis Britannicus sum whatever his colour may be and we take pride in the fact that he wants and can come to the mother country.3
