ABSTRACT
The Suez Crisis momentarily shattered the image of self-confident party unity displayed in 1955 when the Conservatives had won the election. The Conservatives gained their third victory in a row in October 1959 with a substantial majority over the Opposition parties. In 1960, however, the party was again in disarray, this time over the issue of nuclear disarmament. Unilateralism was approved at the party conference against the wishes of the leader and a majority of the parliamentary party. The Campaign for Democratic Socialism successfully organized anti-unilateralist opinion so that after the Blackpool conference in October 1961 the party in the country, in Parliament and the leader were again in accord; but the fundamental constitutional issue had only been postponed and ideological rifts remained conspicuous. It noted the 'complex intermingling of the public and private sectors' and the fact that the Civil Service had to handle social, scientific, economic and technical problems in an international setting.
