WI/PC The UK 'pulls a France' after the Suez Crisis?

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, the UK and France, who had worked together during the Suez Crisis, had wildly different reactions to the USA slapping down their Imperial Adventures.

In brief, as I understand it, the UK undertook to be as pro-American as possible, but France undertook to be as Anti-American as could be managed.

Is it possible for the UK, in reaction to Suez, to do what France did and 'draw back' from the American line, and attempt to maintain geopolitical independence (most likely in concert with France?) And if it's possible, what might the effects be?
 
An Anglo-French instead of Anglo-American nuclear missile programme (eg UK submarines carry M51 missiles instead of Trident ones) is the only immediate thing I can think of. The UK refused to get involved in Vietnam anyway, for example. Maybe no British involvement in the Iraq War?
 
The UK could have taken a more Europhile tone, joining the ECC much much earlier. No necessarily antiamerican. The British cultural elites could have tried to spin it as the French did : we will be Primus inter pares in Europe.60 years later Britain is so intertwined with the Eu thus no Brexit.
 
The UK could have taken a more Europhile tone, joining the ECC much much earlier. No necessarily antiamerican. The British cultural elites could have tried to spin it as the French did : we will be Primus inter pares in Europe.60 years later Britain is so intertwined with the Eu thus no Brexit.

Europhile rather than Antiamerican might have been a better way of phrasing it.
 
Is it possible for the UK, in reaction to Suez, to do what France did and 'draw back' from the American line, and attempt to maintain geopolitical independence (most likely in concert with France?) And if it's possible, what might the effects be?

Imagine if the UK expelled NATO forces from its soil like France did. The whole Transatlantic alliance would collapse. It would be a Soviet wet dream.
 
Imagine if the UK expelled NATO forces from its soil like France did. The whole Transatlantic alliance would collapse. It would be a Soviet wet dream.

Would they be able to afford those bases around the world like Diego Garcia and Ascension if they weren't leased by the US?
 
Imagine if the UK expelled NATO forces from its soil like France did. The whole Transatlantic alliance would collapse. It would be a Soviet wet dream.

Actually not a bad idea for a TL. Say Britain and France carry on in Suez and call Ike's bluff. In response the US really does drop their sterling holdings causing the pound to collapse in value. An economically ravaged Britain and France both withdraw from NATO and expel US forces from their soil...
 
For me this is one of the biggest moments in Britain’s troubled relationship with Europe, the differing reactions of the British and French political classes to Suez laid the foundations for their relations on the 60’s. From what I know of him Macmillan was quite a Europhile but that view wasn’t shared by many others, most of them had a dewy eyed view of America and American power because of the War, even though America had spent the previous decade screwing us over on many things.

To turn the British political class against America, you probably need a serious rupture in relations between the two countries. The most likely cause is Eden holding his nerve and carrying through with the plan to seize the Canal and then surround Cairo hoping that Nasser would be ousted. However that would likely have turned Egypt into a larger version of post 2003 Iraq.
 
That could have an effect comparable to the Sino-Soviet split, in the European camp.
Maybe France might not suffer as much from the Algerian war, since their prestige took quite the hit from Suez, emboldening the FLN.
 
The only problem with both France and the UK leaving NATO is that two of the three reasons for NATO's existance ( keeping the Soviets out and the Germans down) are still in force. Furthermore, the Europeans have been able to divert their economies to butter only because the the US was supplying the guns. ( Yes I know they all have defense industries but they did not have to invest in large standing armies or navies). This would likely have an effect on internal EU trade practices possible curtailing the expansion of the welfare stae across europe. Ultimately leading to a more stable EU
 
The only problem with both France and the UK leaving NATO is that two of the three reasons for NATO's existance ( keeping the Soviets out and the Germans down) are still in force. Furthermore, the Europeans have been able to divert their economies to butter only because the the US was supplying the guns. ( Yes I know they all have defense industries but they did not have to invest in large standing armies or navies). This would likely have an effect on internal EU trade practices possible curtailing the expansion of the welfare stae across europe. Ultimately leading to a more stable EU

France never left NATO.
 
France never left NATO.
In this timeline scenario if both Fance and UK leave the NATO command structure then they are effectively out of NATO. At least in the minds of American planners. France was allowed to have it's cake and eat it too in terms of having a defense industry but outsourcing most ( I know not all) the boots on the ground to the US as it was perceived that that they contributed little. In American public opinion, the UK leaving would have been considered a death blow to the alliance due to remaining mythology in the US regarding British forces. An American first policy with extra sauce for the Monroe doctrine in 1950-1960s possibly leading to direct intervention in Cuba but perhaps not in Vietnam.
 
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