Eighty years ago this week MPs protest against Yalta agreement

 

 The Yalta agreement was debated in the House of Commons. A group of mostly right-wing Conservative MPs tabled a motion protesting at Poland being forced to cede territory to the Soviet Union and being prevented from forming its own government without outside interference. 25 MPs voted in favour but 396 supported the government.

As the defeat of Germany came ever closer, a steady dribble of hitherto neutral countries declared war against the Axis. These included Turkey (most notably),  Latin American countries and Egypt, dominated by Britain but formally an independent country. Its King Farouk had just met Churchill. The declaration was made in a statement to Egypt's lower house of parliament by the prime minister, Ahmad Pasha. As he left the chamber to go to the upper house he was immediately shot dead by a young, radical lawyer.

Britain's coal mine owners attempted to pre-empt the almost inevitable retention of wartime controls over the industry by themselves proposing via their trade asociation a "national coal board" with coordination functions. It was inconceivable that it would revert to the chaotic and inefficent pre-war structure. Nothing came of the scheme but the name was adopted when the new Labour government later nationalised the industry entirely.