Eighty years ago this week the unions extend their reach while the stalled process of Indian independence compromises talks on Palestine

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At the apparently unilateral decision of Britain the conference on Palestine was suspended until December 16 at the earliest. The ostensible reason was that the upcoming  first meeting of the UN General Assembly made it impractical to continue the discussions. In fact prime minister Attlee was already concerned at the possibility that permitting the immigration of 100,000 Jews, which was under discussion at the conference and was supported by President Truman, would inflame Moslem sentiment worldwide and increase the difficulty of the Indian independence process which was deadlocked by the stand-off between the Moslem and Hindu communities.  Truman responded with a public endorsement of the 100,000 immigration plan and a far more direct statement in favour of an independent Jewish state.

Attlee appointed A. V. Alexander as the first minister in charge of a newly created formal ministry of defence. This was another step towards a unified approach to managing the armed services. Churchill had appointed himself minister of defence in 1940 as a means of signalling that he would take personal direction of the war effort in detail and the secretariat of the Committee of Imperial Defence (CID) had acted as a de facto ministry of defence. The CID's residual powers were transferred to the new ministry and the ministers in charge of the three armed services left the Cabinet. In practice they were subordinate to the new minister of defence but their separate ministries continued in existence. 

The General and Municipal Workers' union launched an attempt to unionize a large sector of the economy, extending the power of the union movement beyond public service and manufacturing. It called a strike of its members at the top hotel and restaurant groups, the Savoy and the Ritz. The union demanded formal recognition by employers. 

The Army was forced into an embarrassing retreat by parliamentary and public protest at the handling of a mutiny in May in Malaya. A battalion of paratroops had been sent to a tented camp in the jungle under appalling conditions but were still ordered to parade in full order. Many had been on combat service since D-Day. Over 200 men were sentenced to two years in jail with hard labour by court martial; eight for five years. The men were undoubtedly guilty but the punishments were a grotesque over-reaction. The sentences were quashed.

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