structural:expansion
Chief of the Imperial General Staff

Montgomery was Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) from 1946 to 1948, succeeding Alan Brooke.

As CIGS, Montgomery toured Africa in 1947 and in a secret 1948 report to Prime Minister Clement Attlee 's government proposed a "master plan" to amalgamate British Africa territories and to exploit the raw materials of Africa, thereby counteracting the loss of British influence in Asia. Montgomery sought to strengthen white rule to serve as a bulwark against communism. He described Africans as uncivilized, stating "he is a complete savage and is quite incapable of developing the country himself." His statements were publicized in 1999. After learning of Montgomery's remarks, one of his biographers, Lord Chalfont, said his reputation had been "irredeemably damaged... I find it very disappointing and depressing."

However, Montgomery was barely on speaking terms with his fellow service chiefs, sending his deputy Kenneth Crawford to attend their meetings and he clashed particularly with Sir Arthur Tedder, who was by now Chief of the Air Staff (CAS).

When Montgomery's term of office expired, Prime Minister Attlee appointed Sir William Slim from retirement with the rank of field marshal as his successor. When Montgomery protested that he had told his protégé, General Sir John Crocker, former commander of I Corps in the 1944–45 North-West Europe Campaign, that the job was to be his, Attlee is said to have retorted "Untell him."