Macmillan was one of the first supporters of the United Europe movement

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Harold Macmillan has accepted the Queen's invitation to become prime minister following the sudden resignation of Sir Anthony Eden.

The appointment was officially announced from Buckingham Palace this afternoon after the Queen had held meetings with Tory elders Sir Winston Churchill and the Marquess of Salisbury.

In a televised speech this evening, Mr Macmillan, 62, said: "We have a difficult task before us in this country - all of us.

"It will need all our courage and strength, and we shall need the sympathy, good will and understanding of everyone in the country, whatever their party or beliefs."

Sir Anthony Eden resigned yesterday on the grounds of ill health in the wake of the Suez crisis.

Many had expected his deputy, Rab Butler, to succeed him but it is understood his views on the Suez crisis would have split the Conservative party.

Accepting the decision gracefully, Mr Butler, 54, today pledged his support to the new prime minister and wished him "the greatest possible success".

Opposition leader Hugh Gaitskell, who is currently on a lecture tour of the United States, has called for an immediate general election but this has been rejected by Harold Macmillan.

Born in 1894 to an American mother and British father, Harold Macmillan served in WWI. He was wounded three times and received the Military Cross.

He was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford before beginning his political career in 1924, when he was elected MP for Stockton-on-Tees.

In 1938 he published his book "The Middle Way", whichadvocateda wide extension of social enterprise and credit.

He was also one of the first supporters of the United Europe movement.

From 1940 he served in Churchill's war cabinet.

He was appointed Minister of Housing in 1951 and was very successful in this post, keeping to his pledge of building 300,000 houses a year.

In 1954 he became Minster of Defence, before being appointed Foreign Secretary in 1955 and most recently Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Mr Macmillan, who is married with four children, has vowed to repair damaged relations with the US and the UN following the Suez crisis.

Comets were grounded after the crash

The plane - a British Overseas Airways Corporation jet - was on its way from Singapore to London. It came down in the sea about 20 minutes after taking off from Rome, in Italy, on the last leg of its journey.

Fifteen bodies have been recovered so far. There were 10 children among the passengers. World War II correspondent Chester Wilmot, was also among those missing.

A fisherman reported seeing the plane crash into the sea, south of Elba, after what appeared to be a mid-air explosion.

This is the third crash involving a Comet since the began service on 2 May 1952. The worst accident happened on the first anniversary of the jet's introduction; all 43 people on board were killed shortly after the plane took off from Calcutta in India.

An inquiry found the accident was caused by an unusually severe storm. The plane suffered a structural failure in the air which caused a fire and led to the crash.

Giovanni di Marco, the fisherman who first reported the latest crash, said: "I heard three explosions, very quickly, one after the other. For a moment all was quiet. Then, several miles away, I saw a silver thing flash out of the clouds. Smoke came from it. It hit the sea.

"There was a great cloud of water. By the time I got there all was still again. There were some bodies in the water. We began to pick them up. There was nothing else we could do."

The alarm was raised at about 1115 local time. Italian search aircraft were airborne by 1230.

By nightfall, three Italian ships were reported to be at the scene of the disaster, where wreckage with BOAC markings has been found.

Police say none of the bodies recovered so far have been identified. The 10 children on board were on their way home to school in Britain after visiting their parents in the East for the Christmas holidays.

Mr Wilmott was a war correspondent for the BBC in western Europe. He also reported on the Nuremberg trial.

advocate : to plead in favor of; to defend by argument, before a tribunal or the public; to support（提倡；鼓吹）