1956 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference and welcomed liberalization in the Soviet Union under Nikita Khrushchev hailing the "significant changes" in Soviet domestic and foreign policy as being positive steps for world peace. British attempts to negotiate a diplomatic settlement over Greek and Turkish claims regarding the soon to be independent British colony of Cyprus were also discussed. 1956 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference The 1956 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference was the eighth Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations. It was held in the United Kingdom in June 1956, and was hosted by that country's Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Eden. The new
Suez Crisis much-watched debates about the Suez war on "Free Speech" mirrored the divided public response to the war. The British government pressured the BBC to support the war, and seriously considered taking over the network. Eden's major mistake had been not to strike in July 1956 when there was widespread anger at Nasser's nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company, as by the fall of 1956 public anger had subsided, with many people in Britain having come to accept the "fait accompli", and saw no reason for war. This was especially the case as Eden's claims that the Egyptians would hopelessly mismanage