Night of the Long Knives (1962)
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The epithet Night of the Long Knives is given to July 13, 1962, when the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan sacked the following members of his Cabinet:
- Lord Kilmuir — Lord Chancellor
- Selwyn Lloyd — Chancellor of the Exchequer
- David Eccles — Minister of Education
- Harold Watkinson — Minister of Defence
- John Scott Maclay — Secretary of State for Scotland
- Charles Hill — Minister of Housing and Local Government and Welsh Affairs
- Lord Mills — Minister without Portfolio
This unprecedented action was named by the newspapers after the 1934 Nazi Night of the Long Knives[citation needed] although no blood was spilled in the British version.
Jeremy Thorpe, one of Macmillan's political opponents, is quoted as saying:
| “ | greater love hath no man than this, that he should lay down his friends for his life. | ” |
This quote is adapted from John 15:13.
