Harold Macmillan (1894-1986), the First Earl of Stockton, entered the British parliament as a member of the Conservative party in 1924. He became minister of housing and local government in 1951, minister of defence in 1954 and chancellor of the exchequer 1955. In 1957 he succeeded Sir Anthony Eden as prime minister.

As prime minister Macmillan tried to bring the UK into the European Community but his moves were blocked by the French president, de Gaulle. He re-built Britain's relationship with the US in the wake of the Suez Canal crisis of 1956, and strove to establish better communication and negotiation between the West and the USSR. He purchased Polaris missiles from the US and spent a lot of time trying to maintain a UK nuclear weapon.

In 1959 Macmillan told the country 'You've never had it so good'. He was referring to the full employment and increased prosperity of the 1950s. In the general election of that year he and his party won a landslide victory.

However by 1961 the country was experiencing an economic downturn, and Macmillan had to introduce austerity measures. His government suffered a series of scandals, the most notorious of which was the Profumo scandal, and in 1963 he stepped down. Macmillan retired from parliament a year later.