Robert Gascoyne-Cecil Salisbury

Salisbury, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th marquis of (1893-1972). Conservative politician. Cecil entered Parliament in 1929 and served as junior minister at the Foreign Office. He resigned in February 1938 in support of Eden's opposition to opening talks with Mussolini. Returning to government under Churchill, he was spoken of as a possible foreign secretary. He continued to prosper after the war, particularly as a result of his close friendship with Eden. On domestic issues, however, he found himself at odds with the thrust of post-war Conservatism and soon lost sympathy with the premiership of Harold Macmillan. The occasion of his second resignation was the freeing of the Cypriot leader Makarios from imprisonment in 1957.