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===Foreign affairs===
Despite the heavy American grants of [[Lend Lease]] food oil and munitions (which did not have to be repaid) plus American loans, and a grant of money and loans from Canada at the end of the war Britain was on the verge of bankruptcy. [[John Maynard Keynes]] Argue the only solution was to drastically cut back the spending on the British Empire, which amounted to £2,000 million. The postwar overseas deficit was £1,400 million, warned Keynes. and, "it is this expenditure which is wholly responsible for either financial difficulties." Both Churchill and Atlee ignored his advice and kept spending heavily, in part by borrowing from India.<ref>{{cite book|author=Patrick French|title=Liberty or Death: India's Journey to Independence and Division|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zpNbDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT244|year=2016|page=244}}</ref> The United States provided a large 50-year loan in 1946, and the sudden grant of independence to India and Pakistan in 1947 sharply cut expenses. Marshall Plan money began flowing in 1948, and by the time it ended in 1951 the financial crisis was over.<ref>John Bew, ''Clement Atlee: The man who made modern Britain (2017) pp 371-85. </ref> The new Labour government knew the expenses of British involvement across the globe were financially crippling. The postwar military cost £200 million a year, to put 1.3 million men (and a few thousand women) in uniform, keep operational combat fleets Stationed in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Indian Ocean as well as Hong Kong, fund bases zcross the globe, as well as 120 full RAF squadrons. <ref>Victor Sebestyen, ''1946: The making of the modern world''(2014) pp 72-78.</ref> Britain now shed traditional overseas military roles as fast as possible.<ref> Michael Asteris, "British Overseas Military Commitments 1945–47: Making Painful Choices." ''Contemporary British History'' 27.3 (2013): 348–371. [https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/files/1078217/ASTERIS_2013_cright_CBH_British_Overseas_Military_Commitments_1945_47.pdf online]</ref> American financial aid was available on Washington's terms, as seen in the 1945 loan, the convertibility of sterling crisis of 1947, the devaluation of sterling in 1949, and the rearmament programme in support of the U.S. in the Korean war, 1950–53. On the other hand he had some success in convincing Washington to take over roles that were too expensive for Britain, including the rebuilding of the European economy, and supporting anti-communist governments in Greece and elsewhere.<ref>Martin H. Folly, "‘The impression is growing...that the United States is hard when dealing with us’: Ernest Bevin and Anglo-American relations at the dawn of the cold war." ''Journal of Transatlantic Studies'' 10.2 (2012): 150–166. [https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/9132/5/Fulltext.pdf online]</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Rhiannon Vickers|title=Manipulating Hegemony: State Power, Labour and the Marshall Plan in Britain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5tWHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA46|year=2000|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|pages=45–47|isbn=9780333981818}}</ref> Bevin had the firm support of his party, especially Prime Minister [[Clement Attlee]], despite a left-wing opposition. Top American diplomats such as [[Dean Acheson]] trusted Bevin and worked through him.<ref>{{cite book|author=Michael F. Hopkins|title=Dean Acheson and the Obligations of Power|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rOMlDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA261|year=2017|page=261|isbn=9781538100028}}</ref>
====India====
For decades the Conservatives were split on India between die-hard imperialists (led by Churchill) and moderate elements who tried to provide limited local control.<ref>Arthur Herman, ''Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age'' (2008) pp 321-25.</ref> Meanwhile, the small Labour minority in Parliament was sympathetic to the Congress movement led by [[Mahatma Gandhi]] and [[Jawaharial Nehru]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Pearce|title=Attlee's Labour Governments 1945-51|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U9mHAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT94|year=2006|publisher=Routledge|pages=94–95|isbn=9781134962396}}</ref> Decolonisation was never a major election issue; Labour was not officially in favour of decolonisation when it was elected in 1945. With violence escalating in India after the war, but with British financial power at a low ebb, large-scale military involvement was impossible. The Viceroy of India warned he needed a further seven army divisions to prevent communal violence if independence negotiations failed. None were available, so political restructuring was accelerated.<ref>Chandler, David ''The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Army'' (1994) p. 331</ref> The Labour government gave independence to India and Pakistan in an unexpectedly quick move in 1947. Historian and Conservative party sympathiser [[Andrew Roberts (historian)|Andrew Roberts]] says the independence of India was a "national humiliation" but it was necessitated by urgent financial, administrative, strategic and political needs.<ref>Andrew Roberts, ''Eminent Churchillians'' (1994) p 78.</ref> Whereas Churchill in 1940-45 had tightened the hold on India and imprisoned the Congress leadership, Labour had looked forward to making it a fully independent dominion like Canada or Australia. Many of the Congress leaders in India had studied in England, and were highly regarded as fellow idealistic socialists by Labour leaders. Attlee was the Labour expert on India and took special charge of decolonization.<ref>Kenneth Harris, ''Attlee'' (1982) pp 362-87.</ref> Attlee found that Churchill's viceroy, [[Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell|Field Marshal Wavell]], was too imperialistic, too keen on military solutions (he wanted seven more Army divisions) and too neglectful of Indian political alignments.<ref>Irial Glynn, "‘An Untouchable in the Presence of Brahmins’ Lord Wavell's Disastrous Relationship with Whitehall During His Time as Viceroy to India, 1943–7." ''Modern Asian Studies'' 41#3 (2007): 639-663.</ref> The new Viceroy was [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Lord Mountbatten]], the dashing war hero and a cousin of the King.<ref>R. J. Moore, "Mountbatten, India, and the Commonwealth" ''Journal of Commonwealth & Comparative Politics'' 19.1 (1981): 5-43.</ref> The boundary between the newly created states of Pakistan and India involved the widespread resettlement of millions of Muslims and Hindus (and many Sikhs). Extreme violence ensued when Punjab and Bengal provinces were split. Historian Yasmin Khan estimates that between a half-million and a million men, women and children were killed.<ref>Yasmin Khan, ''The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan'' (Yale UP, 2005) pp 6, 83-103, 211.</ref><ref>Davis Chandler, ''The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Army'' (1994) p. 331</ref> Gandhi himself was assassinated by a Hindu activist in January 1948.<ref>"Gandhi Is Killed By A Hindu; India Shaken, World Mourns; 15 Die In Rioting In Bombay Three Shots Fired" [https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0130.html ''New York Times'' Jan. 30, 1948]</ref>
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