View source for Little local difficulties

'''"little local difficulties"''' were words which [[Harold Macmillan]] used to underplay the resignation of his Treasury team: the Chancellor of the Exchequer, [[Peter Thorneycroft]], and his two junior ministers, [[Nigel Birch]] and [[Enoch Powell]], after the Cabinet had refused to agree to an additional £50 million reduction in public expenditure. Macmillan uttered these words in a calm way as he left for a Commonwealth tour, managing to conceal his anxiety.

[[Peter Thorneycroft]] was brought back to government two years later, first as Aviation Minister and then Minister of Defence. [[Enoch Powell]] returned as Minister of Health in 1960.