Britain adopts the same policy of national independence like France in the 60s

Suppose that Britain, after the Suez crisis, instead of getting closer to the US, distances itself and advocates national independence in the 1960's, like France, and withdraws from the integrated command of NATO and sent away the American bases of his soil. Would that have been possible? And with what effects?
 
Now I wonder; would it, like France, also seek European integration as its means to claw back international relevance, or would it (also like France) instead double down on the Empire, perhaps agreeing to Diefenbaker's Commonwealth free trade scheme.
 
Suppose that Britain, after the Suez crisis, instead of getting closer to the US, distances itself and advocates national independence in the 1960's, like France, and withdraws from the integrated command of NATO and sent away the American bases of his soil. Would that have been possible? And with what effects?

Well, there are two ways you can get this. One is a really left-wing Labour government. More interesting to me is a "British Gaullism"--i.e., a right-wing rejection of both the "special relationship" with the US and a European superstate (preferring a "Europe des patries"). The most obvious candidate for the leader of such a movement is Enoch Powell--but "During the 1960s Powell actually supported Britain’s applications to join the Common Market, a position that was consistent with his attempts to redefine British identity in the post-imperial era. Contrary to his later claim that he had misunderstood the true nature of what this entailed, Powell had been prepared to accept a certain loss of sovereignty as a necessary requirement of membership. It was only at the end of the 1960s – after the infamous River Tiber speech that defined his career – that he reverted to a Eurosceptic position and developed a distinctive right-wing case against British membership of the EEC. Political ambition was no doubt a factor, but his change of heart on Europe was also a response to the changing international situation and the idea that Britain’s domestic political system was in crisis." https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsand...l-helped-to-shape-modern-tory-euroscepticism/
 
It's not impossible that the UK would pull away from the US. That wasnt the reaction in OTL, perhaps due to the fears of Soviet invasion of western Europe. Especially after the crushing of the Hungarian Uprising around the same time as Suez.

As other posters have said, with both France and the UK out of the formal NATO structures the organisation is potentially moribund. Although of course France still retained formal membership and its forces in Germany would have fought alongside other NATO units. Would the UK be in a similar position?

Removing USAF units from the UK would seriously damage NATOs air power. On the upside, for the UK, it might not have been in as much danger of destruction during the Cuban Missile Crisis. If that wasn't butterflied away by the geopolitical effects of UK "Gaulism".

Probably no British purchase of Polaris missiles but instead the prolonged use of V bombers, possibly with a new version of the Vulcan optimised for low level strike and even early stealth ECM.

Another interesting POD arising from UK disillusionment with the US could be earlier British participation in the EEC. And a greater emphasis on military cooperation, in procurement at least, with France and later Germany etc.. Maybe sharing the development of SSBN and missile technology.
 
Now I wonder; would it, like France, also seek European integration as its means to claw back international relevance, or would it (also like France) instead double down on the Empire, perhaps agreeing to Diefenbaker's Commonwealth free trade scheme.
I feel that,
A) britain could keep the empire, being better off than France at the time
B) based on the fact britain got extremely terse with it's more racist ex territories in Africa, we could see a reworking of how the colonies were run.

But ultimately I think it would be a western analog to china: not bad, but needs time to come into it's own
 
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