Operation robot and the British political economy in the early‐1950s: The politics of market strategies

Abstract

Operation Robot was a scheme which emerged from the Bank of England and the Overseas Finance Division of the Treasury in January 1952. It sought to convince ministers of the need to radically restructure Britain's domestic political economy and centred on the proposal to introduce sterling convertibility on a floating exchange rate in the budget of 1952. Although Butler failed to gain sufficient cabinet backing for the scheme, the issues raised by the Robot episode are fundamental to understanding the preoccupations of British governors in the 1950s.