Clement Attlee

if you win a race you get a prize if a country wins a long and brutal war its people expect a reward in 1945 Britain emerged from the most devastating conflict in history in a surprise election result the people overwhelmingly voted in Clement Attlee and a Labour government the promised the prize of far-reaching social reform we're not ashamed to proclaim ourselves a party of idealists inspired by a living faith in freedom democracy and social justice but could they deliver the war had almost bankrupted Britain within weeks of taking office Atlee was told he must abandon his cherished reforms and savagely cut the country's overseas Empire actly and his colleagues were not deterred they pressed on regardless taking an enormous camp what followed is a remarkable story of economic crises and political improvisation of soaring idealism and petty egos all held in check well just about by a most unlikely Prime Minister these were years of intense drama but compared with the epic of wartime the period after 1945 has almost slipped from view under the dust sheets of history yet at Lee's peace shaped modern Britain just as much as Churchill's war teetering like a tightrope artist from one crisis to another labour nationalized major industries and created a National Health Service it also kept written in the game as a world power secretly building an atomic bomb for the left this was Labour's finest now for the right the moment Britain almost became a socialist command economy to my mind these were years of contradiction at home muddled socialism abroad a wobbly resolve to keep Britain as a world power and I believe that this tension between radicalism and patriotism was embodied in the man at the very top terse uncharismatic that often very effective the improbable mr. acklie lever will now have a majority over all parties in a house of 640 Atlee didn't expect to win the 1945 election he thought the Tories would get back with a smaller majority but two days later at Lee was at Potsdam near Berlin replacing Churchill as one of the big three in the final allied Conference of the war the new Prime Minister cut a rather uncertain figure he blinked in the media spotlights and took a back seat in the proceedings saying little deathly nods his head convulsively and smokes his pipe noted one skeptical British diplomat so who was this anonymous prime minister who appeared more at home in the sitting room than in the conference chamber at Leasing the very opposite of a leader a mousy little man with a moustache he might have been taken for a retired headmaster or a suburban bank manager for relaxation he liked to curl up in an armchair with his pipe to do the crossword or to compose one of his corny limericks nor was he much of an orator his speeches were delivered in a clipped understated style the Labour Party's great victory shows that the country is ready for a new policy to face new world conditions the American president Harry Truman once asked Churchill to explain actly Churchill frowned there's less there than meets the eye the president ploughed on he seems a a modest sort of fella huh Churchill grunted he has a great deal to be modest about the young athlete showed no signs of being a budding socialist born in 1883 to a prosperous city solicitor he was the product of a Victorian public school education at Haileybury where he developed a passion for cricket imbued with distinctly upper-middle-class manners throughout his life he always dressed for dinner after Oxford and the bar the young Patriot volunteered for service in the First World War he fought at Gallipoli rose to the rank of Major but was wounded by friendly fire in the Middle East I got one bullet through the left eye and a large piece of ship case tore a considerable hole in my right buttock yet beneath the traditional phlegmatic exterior actly was also a man of ideals appalled by the poverty he witnessed as a social worker in London's East End he joined the Labour Party and standing as major Ackley became an MP in 1922 this was a momentous year for he also got married violet was his one and only love and they raised a happy and devoted family she loyally supported his career although like many wives of MPs she sometimes resented his preoccupation with politics in 1935 the Labour Party toppled its leader and Atlee was chosen as a stopgap acceptable to right and left my colleagues at the parliamentary party have elected me chairman of the Labour Party to carry on for the remainder of the session he lasted a lot longer than that Atlee was cool and organized with a phenomenal memory in 1940 labour joined Churchill's wartime coalition and at least an energetic Deputy Prime Minister Atlee made his retiring personality into a political asset no way could he out Churchill Churchill with brand rhetoric and flamboyant lifestyle instead aptly played himself Arthur's mr. average a leader with who middle britain could feel comfortable Churchill's trademark was the aristocratic cigar at leas the homely pipe he had also become a skillful backroom political operator at the end of the wall the party chairman Harold Laski told actly that labor needed a different leader to win the next election but he was deflected with a matter-of-fact reply dear Lasky thank you for your letter contents of which have been noted see our ally on the day of Labor's 1945 election victory there was another attempt to stab at Lee in the back Herbert Morrison his rival for the leadership 10 years before argued that the Labour Party should elect a new leader before the government was formed but Atlee ignored Morrison and simply drove to the palace to take the oath of office actly was a man of paradox shy but courageous respectable yet ready to take risks a radical who was also deeply patriotic and he was unpredictable sometimes he sit tight not knowing what to do on other occasions he jumped in a direction no one expected so I think that Churchill sneer was quite wrong there was a lot more to Ackley than met the eye this was just as well on the new prime minister's desk in August 1945 soon after his return from Potsdam there was a bleak memo from the Treasury offered by the world's most famous economist in strictest secrecy john maynard keynes warmed the britain was facing nothing less than a financial Dunkirk the war had cost Britain a quarter of its national wealth with industry geared to arms production exports had fallen to one-third of what was needed to pay for essential imports financial aid from America had been vital for Britain's survival but this had been cut as soon as the war ended Kayne's urged the government to bring soldiers home from overseas both to save money and to get men back into industry Atlee faced his first great test britain was alone that's what Keynes meant by saying the country faced another Dunkirk only this time financial not military in 1940 Churchill had gambled that Britain could hold out against Hitler in 1945 his unlikely successor took a gamble that was no less risky whatever came said actly was determined to deliver the government's program and keep Britain in the game as a world Atlee moot fast sending canes to Washington to seek aid but with the war over there was no longer any chance of a free gift the British came away with three and three-quarter billion dollars but only as a loan back in war ravaged Britain the terms of this loan to be repaid with interest over fifty years were a bitter pill to swallow the labour left resented becoming wage slaves to capitalist America Britain was also required to end wartime exchange controls making the pound freely convertible into dollars by July 1947 this looming deadline would be like a time bomb ticking away under the Labour government to get the loan through actly would have to win over a skeptical cabinet yet in this he had a special advantage one of Ackley's great skills was in managing meetings he'd moved briskly through the agenda but unlike Churchill didn't seek to dominate by his eloquence he'd usually doodle away saying little but at the end he would sum up the sense of the meeting gently tilting the argument the way he wanted it to go democracy means government by discussion he once said but it is only effective if you can stop people talking actly finally managed to override the doubts of left-wingers reluctantly a majority of the cabinet approved the u.s. loan Atlee had bought the country crucial breathing space now his government could get on with building the New Jerusalem a massive reform of Industry and Welfare 347 acts of parliament passed over the next four years at its heart with the nationalization of the country's main industries the railways coal electricity gas iron and steel even the Bank of England were brought under public ownership nationalization meant government taking responsibility for workers and their runs but it was also about economic planning labour intended to streamline hundreds of small inefficient companies and set production targets for the benefit of the whole economy this leaflet is coming through your letterbox one day soon or maybe you have already had your coffee read it carefully it tells you what the new National Health Service is the New Jerusalem was also about investing in people Labor's second priority was a huge extension of the welfare state with a new National Health Service at its heart as Minister of Health actly appointed the 47 year old an iron Bevin here was a man of controversy to his admirers the darling of the left and a spellbinding orator to his detractors a champagne socialist and a Welsh windbag at Lee's readiness to promote this fiery left-winger was a sign of the Prime Minister's rude leadership style better to have a potential troublemaker batting for you rather than bowling bouncers action when Bevin was also a big hitter of the sort needed to take on one of Britain's great vested interests the medical profession strongly supported by Attlee Bevin made a great leap beyond Labor's earlier plans not just providing a free health service but nationalizing the country's 3,000 hospitals and health minister a Noreen Bevin cuts the first turf of the new 187,000 town Woodbury downhill center these were heady days for labor but reform on this scale cost big money Atlee was a skilled manager of men yet economics would prove his Achilles heel the nationalized hospitals accounted for two-thirds of the health budget and the bill kept rising a nationalization created other problems the nationalized industries were run not by workers or by government departments but by boards under loose ministerial control the result was a new layer of semi-independent bureaucracy which got in the way of labor planning the economy as it wished Bevan used the same unwieldy model to manage the National Health Service once again Labor's blend of vision and improvisation had created problems as with the nationalized industries a system of regional boards made it hard to control policy and budgets and so the National Health Service Labor's most celebrated achievement was born with a cancer knowing away inside in domestic affairs the government reflected the radical reforming side of its prime minister but Labor's foreign policy was more conservative here major Atlee the patriot helps way.if Nyhan was a surprise at the Ministry of Health at Lee's appointment of Ernest Bevin to the Foreign Office seemed an even bigger shock negotiating the swing doors come to the Foreign Secretary everything he does has a determined deliberate head about it Ernie had been Minister of Labour in the wartime coalition an act Lee had intended to make him Chancellor of the Exchequer but he changed his mind at the last minute to keep Bevin out of domestic politics and well away from Herbert Morrison the Home Secretary and Bevins archrival when somebody once said that Morrison was his own worst enemy Bevin shot bang not while I'm alive II ain't the Foreign Office was a monument to the age of empire it was full of upper-class gentlemen of grand families the products of Eton an oxford Bevin by contrast was illegitimate he left school at 11 barely able to read and write his education came from the Bristol docks and the trades union movement but he had a keen mind and a huge ego he kept up with his papers and he approached each problem with an earthly common sense the diplomats soon took him to their hearts Atlee left all his ministers to get on with their jobs particularly Bevan you don't keep a dog and bark yourself and Ernie was a very good dog good dogs like Ernie or naughty ones like nine at Lee had a rare skill at keeping them in the kennel he knew many of them were big beasts and needed a long leash that he could rein them in when necessary Bevin might have seemed a square peg in a round hole but actly understood the gut accurate ISM of the British working class Ernie was a John Bull character who would go out to bat for Britain and the Empire I will submit to no threats from any nation at all after 1945 jock Colville Churchill's wartime private secretary had returned to the Foreign Office one day he wrote a paper suggesting that Britain should give up Cyprus because it was likely to be an endless trouble spot much to his surprise the memo went right up to the top and he was called in to see the foreign secretary now look here Colvin what's all this nonsense you've been writing about Cyprus Churchill says that Cyprus is British and Cyprus will stay British and all things like that Churchill is always right you're looking a bit peaky who's the end of your department so William Peter sir well you tell later from me you're to have a holiday take my advice go to old mrs. Edmund and I at a splendid holiday at old last year it is a power of good now be a good boy off you go to old and when you come back you won't look so peachy and you'll stop right in all this brandy nonsense about Cyprus an empire was the traditional sign of a great power but just two weeks after Atlee became prime minister america dropped atomic bombs on Japan the question now was whether Britain had to become a nuclear power in order to stay at the world's top table the situation was critical because all over the world from Germany to China the Soviets seemed menacing as the Cold War deepened Britain needed to be strong but the Americans wouldn't share their atomic secrets with anyone not even their closest wartime ally so Atlee and Bevin agreed that Britain must develop its own bomb as the foreign secretary put it colorfully we have got to have this thing over here whatever it costs we've got to have the bloody Union Jack flying on top of it for Bevin the atomic bomb was a way to strengthen Imperial defence but athle believed it exposed the weakness of the Empire this new weapon has rendered much of our post-war planning out-of-date strategic bases in the Mediterranean or the East Indies are obsolete the vulnerability at the heart of the Empire is the one fact that matters Britain still had two million men and women in the armed forces a tenth of the total labor force if Britain's bases would soon be sitting targets for a Soviet bomb why not D mobilize the troops and get them back to work boosting industry Atlee never brought the debate about whether Britain should have its own bomb before the full cabinet I thought some of them were not fit to be trusted with secrets of that kind he moved discussion into a secret cabinet committee innocuously titled general 163 from which he excluded the economics ministers who might question the cost it was this body that took the decision in January 1947 to go ahead with a British bomb actly then manipulated the defence estimates to conceal 100 million pounds of expenditure the Commons was not told for more than a year this was Machiavellian politics of the highest order it showed that when a please mind was made up he could be quite ruthless about getting his way up to now his government had combined radical reform at home with a continued role on the world stage it had managed to have it both ways and seemed on the verge of success but in the New Year it became clear that actly was living on borrowed time in late January 1947 blizzards swept across Britain snow continued to fall every day till the middle of March it was the worst winter on record and it nearly buried the Labour government in this pre oil era 90% of Britain's heat and energy came from its own coal mines as roads and railways ground to a halt fuel could not be moved from the pits factories had to close nearly two million people were laid off and a war style blackout was imposed places where work could be done it was done by the flickering light of candles and for hundreds of thousands of people the effort to keep warm was priority number one we alone of all the nations went through two great wars we're still alone for that fight we put everything in that we had we sacrificed all our wealth overseas we converted all our industry metal why we are left in this position today but the crisis was also an opportunity Atlee could use it to advance his argument about the irrelevance of empire in the nuclear age as the fuel crisis deepened he sees his chance to cut back on Britain's expensive bases overseas and he did so against the wishes of Bevin and the Chiefs of Staff in one week in the middle of February actly persuaded a shaken cabinet to make three momentous decisions it was the rising tension in Palestine that held world attention partition had brought a new flare-up in the strife between Arab and Jew politically the conflict at the end of it one was to cut its losses in Palestine where a hundred thousand British troops were trying and failing to hold the ring between warring Arabs and Jews the cabin has agreed to hand the problem back to the United Nations as a prelude to a British withdrawal a second decision was to pull British troops out of Greece torn apart by a communist led insurrection and to suspend financial aid to the Greek government in this case the Americans were invited to pick up the tab most important of all was India here actly was unusually passionate having argued for years that Britain should give this vast country early independence India once the jewel of empire was now a financial liability for Britain in the prices atmosphere of February 1947 actly persuaded the cabinet to announce a firm date for Britain's withdrawal he hoped this would concentrate the minds of the feuding Indian politicians and he appointed a new Viceroy Lord Louis Mountbatten to accelerate the handover the British had left by August 1947 under Queen Victoria's great grandson the transfer of power is completed hunting down rejoicing turned quickly into hot iron morning throughout the in India and Palestine Britain's hasty pullout creating power vacuums in which thousands died Churchill was furious at the shambles scatter everywhere is the order of the day he told the House of Commons Atlee had hoped for a more orderly transfer of power but on the basic issue he was unrepentant convinced the Britain had to cut its foreign commitments he used the crisis of 1947 to wield the axe the @ly government had escaped its winter of discontent but then in glorious summer the time bomb that had been ticking since August 1945 finally exploded during the war the government had imposed strict exchange controls to stop pounds being moved out of the country and to protect Britain's financial reserves good but remember you can take out five pounds in notes but not more than five pounds the maximum is five funds in notes five five five funds in notes get it you mean five pounds in notes British turrets might afford a day trip to Dieppe but certainly not a long weekend travel to the United States was almost impossible but the price of the u.s. low with that labor had to make pounds freely exchangeable into dollars in July 1947 the time for convertibility had now come within days sterling hemorrhaged because investors were seizing the chance to get their money out of the weak economy and invest somewhere safer a bubble the United States yet at Lee and most of his colleagues failed to grasp the magnitude of this new crisis the government desperately in need of rest went off on holiday in August Bevin was in Dorset at Lee in North Wales while they were away economic confidence collapsed shares fell by nearly 10 percent by mid-august at Lee was forced to return to London to chair an emergency cabinet meeting problems awaited solution and the Chancellor was one of the men upon whom a greater responsibility than ever now risk there's never good the cabinet decided on a complete u-turn to end convertibility and reinstate exchange controls this was a national humiliation and a massive blow to labour self-confidence in 1945 Keynes had predicted a financial Dunkirk in 1947 it struck with a vengeance but at leave us no church 'el galvanizing Whitehall and rallying the country instead of fighting on the beaches actly was well snoozing in a deck chair when the crisis was over inevitably there were mutterings that Clem must go once again economics had proved at least blind-spot his rivals smelt blood the Daily Mail even ran a banner headline aptly resigning suit Bevan to be p.m. this was a leaked from the very top for the Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Doulton another of Aki's critics answer Stafford Cripps the Trade Minister both wanted Bevin to take over crits went to tell at Lisa after dinner on the 9th of September actly listened in silence then he picked up the Scrambler telephone according to Labour folklore the conversation went something like this Ernie it's Clem Stafford's here says you want my job oh not Bevin had stayed loyal end of cabinet revolt then actly brilliantly turned the tables on Crips offering him a vital new post as Minister of Economic Affairs Crips had entered 10 Downing Street that evening ready to plunge in the knife he went out as the Prime Minister's right-hand man this was aptly at his most improbable having botched the economic crisis he handled its political fallout with consummate skill when Dalton the other plotter stupidly leaked some details of his budget speech to a journalist and offered to resign actly gladly accepted after much coming and going of government leaders came the announcement that Hugh Doulton had resigned the chancellorship following what he himself described as a grave indiscretion to adjournment for years Dalton had barely concealed his contempt for the mouse the rabbit the little man now he had become the main political casualty of the economic crisis in his place canny actly appointed yes you guessed it and Zell Britain's number one planner so Stafford Cripps became Chancellor of the Exchequer in addition to his duties as economic chief never crips was another of those richly complex figures at the top of the Labour government like a flea he grew up in a prosperous legal family but Crips stayed in the law to become a wealthy barrister and he inherited not only his parents ethical conviction but also their religious faith crips was teetotal and vegetarian he seemed remorselessly high-minded Churchill said of him yeah but for the grace of God those God to catch a glimpse of so Stafford Cripps as he prepared to leave for the House of Commons presently the man of the hour appeared carrying the famous Bridget as with Ashley there was more than met the eye crypsis diet owed as much to help us to principle for years he'd suffered miserably from colitis inflammation of the bowel and this flared up acutely at times of stress crypsis background as a student of chemistry also set him apart from most politicians of his generation it gave him a head start in understanding the issues of research and development that the devil britain's post-war economy Fritz's policies as chancellor seemed like an extension of his severe personality he froze wages despite a rash of strikes especially in the docks and he slashed imports and tightened food rationing to help the balance of payments Britain was plunged back into an era of almost wartime austerity the average calorie intake in the first half of 1948 was less than in the last year of the war the weekly ration was 13 ounces of meat one and a half ounces of cheese six ounces of butter and large eight ounces of sugar two pints of milk and one egg I know this business won't be a luxury one and the Jew has wives again to have a hard job making a Christmas show the spirit of Christmas and it's family happiness would encourage us all it's the cheerful facing of our difficulties that makes our country strong but cribs also preached the gospel of productivity he pushed Bevin and the defense Chiefs to release even more men from the Armed Forces for key industries such as coal and textiles the economy started to expand and the government could afford to remove some of the worst rationing such as on potatoes and red the international situation had also been transformed the Americans now feared that without economic recovery much of Western Europe might go communist was concluded within an hour of its approval by the House of Commons mr. Bevin signed on behalf of Britain and juster Douglas for the United States under the Marshall Plan the Americans pumped thirteen billion dollars into Western Europe over the next four years and Britain was top of the list receiving nearly a quarter of the total aid Bevin had taken the lead in orchestrating the European end of the plan but he wanted more than money and never been a dictator in the history of this world it doesn't talk peace when he's been preparing for war you'll bear that in mind for a year he wheeled and dealed with Washington finally persuading the Americans to make a historic commitment to protect Western Europe against the Soviet threat the north atlantic treaty was signed solemn pact by which twelve great freedom-loving countries of the world pledged common and immediate action in the event of armed attack on any one of them for athlean Bevin NATO America's unprecedented peacetime alliance with Europe provided a new anchor for British foreign policy but then once again Britain's economic rollercoaster lurched downhill in the summer of 1949 world trade slumped and British exports collapsed speculators started a new run on the pound crypsis health was now as poor as that of the British economy in mid-july the architect of recovery left for a complete rest at a sanatorium in Switzerland sir Stafford said that he was leaving all his worries about dollars and sterling behind him at the Treasury and that he wouldn't think about them anymore until he returns fit and well unfortunately the man who took charge of the crisis was according to one cabinet colleague almost completely tone-deaf on economics that man was none other than actly himself the government was like an orchestra without a conductor I September Britain's reserves had dropped catastrophic Lee and the country again seemed on the edge of bankruptcy a solution was to devalue sterling but this was Anatomy to act Lee and his older colleagues because in the Sterling crisis of 1931 labor had been stigmatized as the party that couldn't be trusted with the pound trapped between past and future at Lee divid in the end the decision to devalue was pushed through by junior ministers led by Hugh Gaitskell and Harold Wilson athle went with the tide and cripts returned to announce the decision the arrivals are especially summoned cabinet meeting I want to impress upon you the seriousness of the step that we've taken in changing the dollar rate of exchange of the pound sterling in September 1949 the pound was devalued by 30 percent to act his relief there was no repeat of 1931 reserves rose and exports began to flow once more at Lee's government had a gain plucked victory from the jaws of defeat it's a set out for the paper boys as a general election suddenly looms in sight the intelligent anticipation or inspired guess it focuses attention on the only man who knows the answer and there's excitement as mr. Radley leaves number 10 in 1950 the exhausted government was coming to the end of its five-year term early in the new year actly seized his chance to hold an election in a style very different from New Labour actly was driven around the country in the family car chauffeured by his wife by while she drove he did the newspaper crosswords their luggage was one suitcase and a cardboard box containing the travel Island 4x2 put a crease in Clem's trousers and in her spare moments this is actually got out her knitting now it was up to the people to make their choice Berlin was exceptionally heavy in all distinct discontent with crypsis austerity had boosted Tory support labour did win a second term but only just with an overall majority of 5 next day when Labour's bare majority was finally established a cabinet meeting was held to discuss this really remarkable situation and when it was over this is what we were told by mr. Attlee a lot of the meetings are meeting their counting on little yes we carry on Ohio State in danger they were carrying on that these were old men many of whom had been running major government departments almost without a break for a whole decade since 1940 not only Crips but Bevin was now seriously ill and yet for the first time the health of the economy gave Ackley and his government some room for maneuver in 1950 it could boast its first balance-of-payments circus thanks to Crips devaluation and some good luck labor finally seemed to have created the conditions for an economic boom so this was a real chance for Britain to modernize its industry or to get goods into the shops to go a consumer led growth here were windows of opportunity yet Ackley's government wasn't able to clamber through any of them because once again it was suddenly walled in by events this time the crisis was far from home in a little-known country on the other side of the world Korea in June 1950 troops from communist North Korea invaded the south President Truman rightly convinced that Stalin had given the nod decided this was a crucial test for the West he committed American troops to Korea and expected his new NATO allies to do the same britain's Jesus staff had initially advised that this would be militarily unsound but at leas deeply impressed by an impassioned telegram from Sir Oliver Franks the British ambassador in Washington despite the power and position of the United States the American people are not happy if they are alone career with a please moment with Bevin and Cripps ill and exhausted the Prime Minister took center stage he insisted that Britain must send its own troops to Korea this he said was a vital test of the alliance with America like a more recent labour Prime Minister Attlee was willing to risk his leadership and his government for the sake of the special relationship aboard the carrier unicorn the first contingent of British troops head for a port in southern Korea they had left Hong Kong to music and speeches and their arrival in Korea was warmly welcomed but Korea also sparked panic in Western capitals that Stalin might unleash the Red Army into Germany and France this could trigger World War three the Americans offered for combat divisions for Europe's depends but they were adamant that their Alamos was also rearmed the Pentagon wanted Britain to commit itself to a defense budget of six billion pounds over the next three years labour had set aside only 2.3 billion Atlee rose to the challenge to replace the ailing Crips as Chancellor the Prime Minister promoted his young deputy hue Gaitskell ignoring knive evan who desperately wanted the job unlike Crips who'd called repeatedly for cuts in the Armed Forces Gaitskell with Ashleigh support now led the campaign for increased defense spending after anguish debate actly in Gaitskell secured cabinet agreement to double the defense budget it wasn't as much as America had wanted but it was considerably more than Britain could afford a four-word phrase sums up the work of a Cardiff factory visited last week by a television newsreel cameraman from buns to guns only a few months ago there was turned out from this factory a machine that stamped the cross on hot cross buns the left was horrified Korea and rearmament shattered Labour's fragile consensus about the Cold War threat nyhavn asked whether there were really hundreds of Soviet divisions poised to race for the champ and how would Britain pay very armed when Gaitskell tried to save money in other areas and suggested capping the ballooning cost of the NHS Bevin told the cabinet he would not betray the principle of a free health service this had become a personal Feud bitter at being denied the chancellorship bevin was almost looking for an issue on which to resign so once again economic crisis caused a political mutiny the difference this time was that at least tired and fractious first eleven was at breaking point and not even his skills as captain but stopped the team falling apart the showdown with Bevin came to a head when at Lee's vital Ally Ernest Bevin was dying he loved the Foreign Office and was desperate to carry on but his heart and lungs were worn out and actly had to ask him to go to add insult to injury the hated Morrison took over his job hands over to Herbert Morrison at 70 the strain even got to the unflappable aunt Lee who was struck down with a duo Dean Allison both Bevin and Gaitskell were obliged to press their case at the prime minister's hospital bedside Gatesville explained at length how he tried and failed to bridge the gap he made it clear he would compromise no further actly i clamped between his teeth shook his head and muttered after go Gaitskell side he'd been chancellor for only six months as you wish prime minister first thing in the morning you shall have my resignation actly wit the pipe out of his mouth and snapped no he all has to go for statues actly had to let bevin go he could not afford to lose his chancellor but by not questioning Gaitskell with sufficient rigor actly had committed the country to a defense budget that proved way beyond its means he had also split his party outside the treasury anxious budgetary crowds await the Chancellor of the Exchequer what dreadful shots are locked in the fateful red box when nie Bevin resigned he accused the government to being dragged too far behind the wheels of American diplomacy and insisted that the rearmament budget would cause irreparable damage to the economy the financial consequences were indeed from it a balance of payment surplus of 300 million dollars in 1950 became a deficit of 400 million in 1951 just when France and Germany Britain's Continental rivals bounced back economically British export growth stagnated and Lee had chosen the free armament on this scale proved an economic catastrophe by the spring of 1951 the Labour government was on its last legs at Lee's majority of five proved intolerable the Tories mercilessly harassed them with late-night sittings and falseface labor had to bring sick MPs in by ambulance to fill the Commons division lobbies ask the elected a renewal of confidence in the government and to given adequate parliamentary support in order to deal with the important issues which the country is faced at home and abroad at Lee arranged a new election in October 1951 on the day labor actually won 230,000 more votes than the tourists but gained fewer seats actly was out Churchill was back Churchill Winston Spencer thirty thousand the new Prime Minister honored his campaign promise to set the people free with an end to rationing the Tories cut back on defense spending and exploited the platform labour had painfully created for economic Pro all this helped keep the Tories in power for 13 years none of the big men of Ackley's cabinet ever held office again Ernest Bevin died five weeks after resigning as foreign secretary crips a year later in 1952 and after fighting and losing a last election in 1955 Atlee resigned as party leader I will not cease from mental fight nor shall the souls sleep in my hand till we have filled Jerusalem in England's green and pleasant land put retyping at Lee's government had a kind of split personality its leaders were radical reformers but they were also men all in the 1880s who'd lived through two world wars and was slow to appreciate the full extent of Britain's decline as a power confronted with the Korean crisis major Utley and his band of brothers opted for rearmament on a massive scale with disastrous economic and electoral consequences but at least still left number 10 with a raft of achievements abroad there was Indian independence and NATO at home labour had extended the welfare state and revolutionised relations between government and industry even mrs. Thatcher couldn't dismantle the National Health Service Atlee himself lived on until 1967 he regularly attended debates in the House of Lords as an elderly commuter on the Metropolitan line he was rarely recognized but he probably liked it that way he ended his days loaded with the country's highest honors including the companion of honor CH and the order of merit om he even penned a limerick to express his private pride few thought he was even a starter there were many who bought themselves smarter but he ended PM CH and om an earl and a knight of the Garter not bad for the improbable is sadly more of the extraordinary events of the post-war period coming up all set to the music at the time get ready to swing in the jitterbug is next Leslie Shay

Channel: The History Room

Views: 229,425

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Keywords: Clement Attlee (Activist), The Labour Party, Socialism (Political Ideology), Post war Britain, Nationalisation, National Health Service (Organization), Conservative Party (Organization), Labour Party (Organization), Aneurin Bevan (Author), Winston Churchill (Author), 1945 General Election

Id: OnSBTN9DUA8

Length: 59min 3sec (3543 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 03 2014