Beeching cuts and the Cotswold Line between Oxford and Worcester has increased significantly, and double track has now been reinstated on the Golden Valley Line. The Conservatives increased their Commons majority in the general election of 8 October 1959, their first with Harold Macmillan as prime minister, who famously said that most people "had never had it so good". Ernest Marples, previously the Postmaster General, was made Transport Minister two weeks later in a cabinet reshuffle; Marples was described by some as "cocky", "flash", "slick" and as a "construction tycoon", and Macmillan noted that the Northern working-class boy who had won a
Never So Few of Rat Pack colleague Peter Lawford after Lawford failed to deliver his brother-in-law President John F. Kennedy for a stay at Sinatra's house, giving Lawford's part in "Robin and the 7 Hoods" to Bing Crosby, Kennedy's choice as host for his visit. Sinatra never spoke to Lawford again. Opening to middling reviews, "Never So Few" was praised for its action sequences, but criticized for a romantic sub-plot that bogged the film down. Newcomer McQueen garnered the bulk of the film's good notice. "Variety" commented that "Steve McQueen has a good part, and he delivers with impressive style." According to MGM