Fifty years ago, in July 1956, the Egyptian President, Colonel Nasser, nationalised the Suez Canal, to the anger and frustration of the British and French governments, who were the majority shareholders.

Prime Minister Eden reached a secret agreement with France and Israel to provoke hostilities through an invasion of Sinai by Israeli forces, using this as a pretext for Anglo-French military intervention in Egypt. The decision to send British troops to occupy the canal zone led to the downfall of Eden and represented what one historian of the Liberal Party has called a watershed for Jo Grimond and his party. Fifty years on, a leading contemporary historian re-examines the impact of Suez on the opposition parties.

Speaker: Peter Barberis, Professor of Politics at Manchester Metropolitan University and author of Liberal Lion, a biography of Jo Grimond. Chair: Richard Grayson.