On 6 November 1956 the British and French armies were winning at Suez. Their paratroopers held Port Said, the Egyptian air force was destroyed, and the road south was open.
Then London stopped — mid-advance, without telling Paris.
The reason has been told for seventy years as a single phone call from Washington. There is a transcript of that call, and in it the President is being warm.
This documentary follows what actually happened: a fixed exchange rate of 2.80 dollars to the pound that Britain had privately sworn never to abandon, gold reserves published every single month, a two-billion-dollar floor that sat just below what the world could cash in overnight, and a creditor whose opposition was enough to close the door at the IMF.
It also follows the detail almost every retelling omits — the ceasefire bought Britain nothing. The money only moved after 3 December, when Britain agreed to leave completely.
Sourced to the IMF archives (Boughton), the Bank of England’s daily dealers’ reports (Klug & Smith), Hansard and the US diplomatic record.