Pax Brit..most of it changed for the better after lord king took over for BEA copilots although hamsters and other cadets were sold out which affected command time as most of my mates who stayed at Heathrow took 20 years to a command.
I had some fabulous times in BEA but the politics as you have written “Nuff said on that”...I had a very thick file when I went to BOAC, John D’arcy gave me a chance and when I left said that there would always be a job for me there. No doubt he knew from the guild those with whom I had crossed swords and there was a movement to stop one of those BEA managers climbing up the new management ladder..unsuccessfully. A couple of trainers mentioned that when DIbley’s brown bomber air Mauritius crews came back he tried to put the kibosh on it as they may have learnt bad habits!..Bad habits..biggest cowboy that I flew with.