This is a far-reaching study of how Britain's postwar Labour government attempted to sustain a vision of Britain as a world power. Committed to the liquidation of the old British Empire, the government sought to develop new relationships in the Middle East as a replacement for India, hoping to halt the decline of the Empire by putting it on a new basis. Caught between the forces of anti-British nationalism and American anti-colonialism, the attempt was ultimately destined to fail; but it marks a crucial phase in the story of British imperialism and of Middle Eastern history.