While Joseph Chamberlain , Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1895 to 1903 , was sympathetic to the idea , his proposals for a permanent Imperial Council or Council of the Empire which would be a kind of Imperial Parliament passing policies that would bind colonial governments , was rejected at the 1897 Colonial Conference and 1902 Colonial Conferences due to fears that such a scheme would undermine the autonomy of colonies . Similarly , proposals for centralising the Empire 's armed forces were also rejected as were his proposals for an Empire customs union . At subsequent Imperial Conferences , proposals for Imperial preferential trade were rejected by the British Liberal governments due to their preference for international free trade . It would not be until the British Empire Economic Conference in 1932 that Imperial Preference would be implemented ; however , the policy did not survive World War II
British Empire Economic Conference
British Empire Economic Conference
Imperial Federation