His supporters claimed that the large public following[7][8] which Powell attracted helped the Conservatives to win the 1970 general election,[9]:568 and perhaps cost them the February 1974 general election,[9]:710–2 when Powell turned his back on the Conservatives by endorsing a vote for Labour, which returned as a minority government in early March following a hung parliament.
It was in Algiers that the beginning of Powell's distrust of the United States began. After socially mixing with senior American officers that he met and exploring their cultural views of the world, he became convinced that one of America's war aims was to destroy the British Empire. Writing home on 16 February 1943, Powell stated: "I see growing on the horizon the greater peril than Germany or Japan ever were... our terrible enemy, America".