In Jeopardy

After being catapulted into power in the 1945 General Election, Clement Attlee and his Labour government were forced by several financial constraints to reassess the role of the Royal Navy in peacetime and to revise British Defence policy in the Far East. The Government decided on a punishing course of naval disarmament in an effort to make substantial savings that would help pay for its domestic programme. This book examines the fundamental realignment in British defence policy in the 1945-8 period and explains why political adversity in this region contributed to the subsequent reversal of strategy. After 1941-2, Singapore's utility as a major naval base in the post-war world was in doubt. However, it was restored somewhat during the late 1940s and early 1950s, as the strident threat of Communism was felt in South-East Asia and the chill of the Cold War grew in intensity around the world.