Fresh as Dung

“A Latter-Day Hitler”: Anti-Shah Activism and British Policy towards Iran, 1974-1976

“…He noted that the reporting of human rights abuses perpetrated by the Iranian regime was simply ignored, as 'British human rights policy was governed by a ruthless pragmatism which was at pains not to offend the Shah'. 6 Drawing on the records of Labour prime ministers Harold Wilson (1974Wilson ( -1976 and James Callaghan (1976Callaghan ( -1979, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office [FCO], the memoirs of Iranian officials, and a range of publications by the Iranian opposition in Europe, this analysis complements Posnett's work by investigating Britain's diplomatic conduct towards Iran between 1974 and 1976. Complementarity results, primarily, from expanding Posnett's analysis of the question of human rights in Iran.…”

“…Accusing the Labour government of ignoring the lessons of history, some depicted the Shah as a 'Mussolini-style dictator' and a 'latter-day Hitler'; others traced a parallel between the stances of Wilson's government and Neville Chamberlain's in the 1930s to criticise a dangerous strategy of appeasing the Shah's regime by comparing it to Nazi Germany. 80 The radicalisation of the Party's base within an already polyphonic Labour Party institutional constellation can go a long way towards explaining the mixed messages emanating from the Labour government and the NEC, a discrepancy the Shah did not appreciate. Whilst Callaghan's government, inaugurated in April 1976, did not hint at any policy change towards Iran, the NEC adopted the Labour Party Programme for Britain in May, intended to set the overall strategic direction of the Party, and called for the withdrawal of support for authoritarian regimes, mentioning Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Oman specifically.…”