EBOOK Ending 'East of Suez':The British Decision to Withdraw from Malaysia and Singapore

In 1964 Britain's defence presence in Malaysia and Singapore was the largest and        most expensive component of the country's world-wide role. Yet within three and a        half years the Wilson Government had announced that Britain would be withdrawing        from its major Southeast Asian bases and abandoning any special military role 'East        of Suez'. Drawing upon previously classified government records P.L. Pham examines        and explains how the Wilson Government came to this conclusion, one of themost        significant decisions in the decline of British global power after the Second World        War.Substantially revising earlier accounts, Pham exposes the inner workings of        government, the close but strained relations between the United Kingdom and the        United States in the midst of Cold War tensions, and how politicians and policy        makers managed the decline of British power, providing an in-depth and comprehensive        study of British policy processes of the era.