Behind the scenes, Welensky and the Rhodesians had been courting the Conservatives, while the native Africans had been doing the same with Labour. A British general election was held in 1951 and the Conservatives gained power. Labour, mindful of the overwhelming opposition of Africans from both Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland and of the Colonial Office mandate to oversee native interests, had been lukewarm at best to the idea of federation, and had been wholly opposed to amalgamation. After the election, the bipartisan approach to federation broke down and the British laws for its creation passed only with the support of the Conservatives, with both Liberal and Labour Parties now opposed.