Kenneth Younger - Foreign Office Work

Foreign Office Work

Following the 1950 general election, Younger was promoted to be Minister of State at the Foreign Office, the deputy to Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin. Following Bevin's illness in April 1950, Younger became Acting Foreign Secretary. He picked up on British attempts at diplomacy to try to bring the Communists who had taken control of China into the international community, attempts that did not meet with success, although the United Kingdom did recognise the Communists as having de jure control. Younger also led on developing British policy in relation to the European Coal and Steel Community when it was first proposed; the government had wanted to participate but was unable to accept proposals drafted by the French government and therefore did not join.

At the time of the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, Bevin was ill and Younger played a central role in determining Britain's diplomatic reaction. Later that year he headed the British delegation to the UN General Assembly and introduced the British proposals for a negotiated ceasefire; he rejected Soviet proposals which contained a vague promise of 'free elections' in Korea but did not state how they were to be organised. Younger tried to assure the Chinese government that United Nations forces would not pursue the North Korean army further and attempt to invade China. In late October, his suggestion that the government of Czechoslovak had been imposed on the country by the proximity of Soviet troops: this was angrily rejected by the delegate from the former country.