From Saigon to Westminster: Britain’s secret Vietnam propaganda

• Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
• EGPP: European Governance and Politics Programme

This talk explores the (dis)information work of the Foreign Office's secret Information Research Department (IRD) on the Vietnam War from 1956 to 1966.

It highlights the propaganda themes developed and argues that one of the main reasons for the UK's increased IRD activity was to improve Anglo-American relations. Britain wanted to show its expertise and willingness to share the burden of containing the Communist insurgency. The escalation of the conflict in the mid-1960s also expanded the US information effort and eclipsed the IRD contribution. Therefore, the IRD cut its presence in Saigon shifted its focus to spreading IRD material on Vietnam in the UK to counter the anti-Vietnam War movement. In 1965 the IRD commissioned a secret elite opinion poll, which found broad support for Prime Minister Wilson’s cautious Vietnam policy, not least because the UK elite was increasingly convinced that Europe and not Asia was Britain’s top priority.

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