Defending the Empire

Abstract

This chapter concentrates on the debate at the Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR) conference at Mont Tremblant, Canada in December 1942. The arguments raised at the conference engaged many of the issues of race and empire at stake during the war. The conference and Hailey have hitherto been regarded from separate fields of enquiry. Hailey has been recognized as a leading articulator of and influence upon British colonial policy. IPR conferences were supposedly unofficial. However, the conference of December 1942 was different providing an important forum for the development of postwar international policy. Hailey’s presence as leader of the British delegation allows us an entry to the key moment of transition in the Atlantic debate on race and empire.