<Tr> <Th> Awards </Th> <Td> Military Cross </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> a . ^ Office vacant from 6 April 1955 to 13 July 1962 . </Td> </Tr> <P> Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC (12 June 1897--14 January 1977), was a British Conservative politician who served three periods as Foreign Secretary and then a relatively brief term as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 to 1957 . </P> <P> Achieving rapid promotion as a young Member of Parliament, he became Foreign Secretary aged 38, before resigning in protest at Neville Chamberlain's appeasement policy towards Mussolini's Italy . He again held that position for most of the Second World War, and a third time in the early 1950s . Having been deputy to Winston Churchill for almost 15 years, he succeeded him as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister in April 1955, and a month later won a general election . </P>

Who was the prime minister of great britain in 1956