ABSTRACT
René's immediate calculation after the disaster of the 1974 election was to press for a coalition with the SDP. The 1974 election was an intended prelude to a planned Constitutional Conference in London. For the FCO in London the distorted election outcome was a complication. It muddied rather than clarified where political power lay in Seychelles, made worse by the conflicting constitutional goals – association, independence – of the two sides. Mancham however was in a weak position. The Wilson government's decolonisation enthusiasm strong concern to minimise overseas expenditure meant London would entertain Mancham's proposal for continuing association. London was thus essentially in support of René's goals. The perfunctory approach to the talks of Lestor, her colleagues reinforces the impression that in 1975 the UK government was impatient to be rid of Seychelles. The haste and off-hand manner in which London approached Seychelles’ decolonisation arrangements played out further as Mancham persisted in trying to obtain some form of security arrangement.
